


Reddit Nosleep Thread

by nowjkjkjklololol



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: AkuRoku - Freeform, Demons, Horror, M/M, Ouija, Spooky, ghost story, implied/one sided akuroku, nosleep, reddit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24954190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowjkjkjklololol/pseuds/nowjkjkjklololol
Summary: SeriesIt all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [1]3 weeks ago•r/nosleep•KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•42 commentsHayner was one of a little group of friends I had growing up; there was Olette, a sweet brunette girl who was bubbly and fun, there was Pence, a pugdy guy who was probably the nicest guy I’d ever met, and of course, Hayner, an asshole of a mate but fiercely loyal to us all. We were always together, but it wasn’t until last year that he seemed to really notice my sister. Naminé was...read more...
Relationships: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 58
Kudos: 20





	1. [1]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [1]  
3 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
42 comments

Hayner was one of a little group of friends I had growing up; there was Olette, a sweet brunette girl who was bubbly and fun, there was Pence, a pugdy guy who was probably the nicest guy I’d ever met, and of course, Hayner, an asshole of a mate but fiercely loyal to us all. We were always together, but it wasn’t until last year that he seemed to really notice my sister. Naminé was a year younger than us, but never tried to tag along with us as she preferred to stay inside with her books and her art and all that. Hayner ignored her for the most part until her twenty-first birthday party, when, according to him, he _really_ saw her for the first time. After that, he was always pestering me about her, trying to ‘win her over,’ as he always said.

Now, my sister’s always been an one of those spiritual, paranormal, witchy kind of people. She always said she could see things that I never could when we were little; like other kids with ‘weird clothes’ who I never met, or the grownups she told me came and watched us as we slept. When we got older and she threw herself into her paintings, I started noticing that a few days after she would paint something, I would see it, like I would see the item while going about my day, or I would live through the scene in the painting. That sounds so weird, but like...once, she painted a still life of a coffee shop, from the point of view where the viewer was seated at a table and looking out across a cafe full of tables and people. Two days later, as I was sitting in a coffee shop doing some homework, I looked up and noticed a familiar scarf; Naminé and I still shared a room because our family was dirt-poor, even with me and my mom working all the hours we could to make ends meet, and I had seen her working on that specific pattern for hours. Thinking it would be cool to show her, I discreetly snapped a picture of the cafe, but when I pulled up the picture later in our room to show Naminé, I was stunned to see that it was _exactly_ the image my sister had painted, down to the crumpled straw wrapper on my table. There were more stories I remember, more examples throughout the years, but there was one thing in common; the things and events always seemed pretty harmless.

Well, Hayner had heard me tell these stories over the years, and at one point during his attempts to gain the interest of my sister, he got the _brilliant_ idea of getting her a ‘witchy’ gift. Now, he had always thought the whole idea of ghosts and spirits was ridiculous, so he had no idea of what to get for her. Rather than ask, however, he found some occult store downtown and dragged me along with him to pick something out himself.

When we entered the shop, it was dark and full of strange, overpowering smells. I cringed away from all the glass bottles that lined the narrow aisles, afraid of breaking something, but Hayner beelined it towards a creepy old man behind a counter in the back. He was probably in his fifties, bald, with a creepy and almost malicious smile stretched across his face. It made me feel so nervous, I remember wanting to just turn and run from the store, but I held my place and Hayner jumped right into an explanation of his situation and a request for advice on a gift. The old guy stared at us for a second before his smile stretched somehow even wider, and he laughed in a way that made my skin crawl. He gestured Hayner and I to follow him as he stepped out from behind the counter and told us he knew just the thing.

He led us to a corner that was set up like a cheesy Halloween display. There was a table with a thick black covering, black candles that were partially burned and had wax dripping down the sides, a weird crystal ball that seemed to be lit from within...and a black and gold ouija board. When I tried to whisper to Hayner that I’d never seen Naminé use anything like that, the shopkeeper laughed that unsettling laugh again and told us that ‘that means she doesn’t have one already,’ and Hayner eagerly agreed. We left the shop moments later, board wrapped up neatly and tucked under Hayner’s arm, and I had never felt more grateful to be in the bustling, crowded streets of the city. I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that had crept its way into me, and I desperately wished my headstrong friend agreed with me that this was a _terrible_ idea.

Valentine’s Day rolled around just a few days later, and Hayner showed up on our doorstep just before lunch with the package in hand. I reluctantly let him in and called Naminé downstairs, and she greeted him sweetly when she joined us. Hayner blushed and stammered out some flirty compliments, and then held out the package, which my sister accepted with a smile.

That smile turned into a look of absolute horror once she’d unwrapped and gotten a look at the board. Naminé _shrieked_ and flung the heavy board away from her, then burst into tears and ran upstairs, sobbing about needing to purify the house. Hayner and I stared at each other with matching expressions of confusion for a moment before I silently grabbed the board and pushed Hayner out the door with me.

“What the fuck was _that_?” Hayner asked quietly, staring at me in bewilderment. I shrugged, still unable to speak, and headed towards our outdoor trash can on the street. He caught up with me quickly, though, and grabbed the board out of my hand. He told me, since neither of us had a date for Valentine’s, we would spend our evening keeping his purchase from going to complete waste. 

How I wish I’d had plans for that night.

We met up just after midnight that night at the woods behind Hayner’s house, because after watching Namine have a meltdown and burn sage in every room as well as praying or performing some sort of ritual, I couldn’t bring myself to allow it back inside. He said his roommates were hooking up and probably wouldn’t appreciate having a seance going on in the background. The woods were dark, much darker when we’d hiked in several hundred yards. When we were far enough in for Hayner’s liking, he pulled the board and some candles and a few other things from his bag. 

He informed me that he’d looked up the ‘right’ way to use an ouija board on Google and that we needed to start by picking one of us to be the person asking questions, but we both needed to keep a hand on the little pointed piece. He then volunteered me to ask the questions, but I absolutely did _not_ want to be what he called a ‘medium,’ so he said he would. Hayner lit the candles, we sat down, and we both touched the little pointer. 

Hayner said we both needed to clear our heads, move the piece in a circle to ‘warm up the board,’ and then ask a question and wait. So we did, and Hayner asked if anyone was there. It was silent and still, with only the usual nighttime forest sounds around us. We watched the board closely, but nothing happened. Hayner asked the same question a second time, and we waited another long moment. Again, nothing. Then Hayner asked the board a third time.

Instantly, everything went quiet. When I say that, I don’t mean ‘quiet’ like before. The forest sounds were gone, insects fell silent, even the air went completely still. I felt like an electric current was humming through me; my nerves buzzed and all the hair on my arms were standing up. Hayner chuckled, and I felt the glass under our hands move to ‘yes.’ 

“Will you talk to us?” Hayner asked, and the piece moved in a tight circle before returning to ‘yes.’ Hayner smiled wider, but I felt chills up and down my spine. This was getting too creepy for my liking already. “What’s your name?” Hayner asked, but it sounded more like a demand. There was a pause before the thing moved to spell out A - X - E - L.

“Axel?” I squeaked out, and the piece moved over ‘yes.’ I shivered while Hayner began muttering excitedly about how ‘cool’ this was.

“Are you alive?” he almost commanded the board, and a strange thing began to happen. Instead of spelling out an answer or moving to the ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ the thing began to move in a sideways figure eight, like an infinity symbol or something. It did it, paused in the center for a second, and then did it again. On the third circuit, Hayner scowled, and his abrasive nature started to come out. “Dude, is this ghost stupid?”

Immediately, the piece stopped just as it started another loop, and instead began to move over the letters again. DONT. A very brief pause. LIKE. Another pause. YOU. We both exchanged a brief look as it stopped, but looked down again when it began moving quickly through the alphabet, from A to Z.

“Why does it keep doing these things?” I whispered nervously, and Hayner frowned deeply. 

“I remember reading about a few things, but...I’d have to look it back up,” he muttered, pulling his phone out of his pocket. We both watched the screen light up and then immediately power down, and while he attempted and failed to get it to start up again, I watched as the dial moved again. 

LIKE. YOU. THOUGH. The pointer stopped for a longer pause, and then finished with; YOU. TALK.

“The fuck?” Hayner asked, having turned back to catch the last part after giving up on his phone. I was absolutely terrified.

“Why me?” I whispered, fearing that whatever we had contacted was about to predict my death or threaten me or something; I’m not sure if it’s answer was better or worse than my imagination.

CUTE. I snorted a surprised laugh, and Hayner rolled his eyes; I think we both thought the other had done everything as an elaborate joke it that moment. Our humor quickly died, though, as ‘Axel’ finished. GOING. HOME. WITH. YOU. INSTEAD.

“Fuck you, Hayner,” I tried to say forcefully, but my voice shook. This was all a stupid joke my douchebag of a friend was pulling on Valentines Day. Hayner looked started for a second, and then his eyes went wide as he slowly shook his head. Then I realized that he wasn’t looking at _me_ , but rather, ever so slightly to the side of my face, almost as if he were looking at something immediately behind me. 

I started to turn my head, about to look for whatever it was that he was staring at, but before I caught more than the briefest hint of red in my peripheral, he let out a panicked yelp and flung himself backwards, shoving the glass so hard in his escape that it flew out from under my fingers and off into the darkness. He clawed himself upright as he began to run frantically away, and I sat there, frozen for a split second. It was as if time had stopped, but I’m sure it was just the sudden spike in adrenaline that made me notice several things at once. My gaze had been drawn to Hayner’s flight and I had not seen what he had seen, but it was clear it had scared him shitless. Hayner was my only chance of finding my way out of here, because as soon as the piece had flown out from under my hand, all the candles had gone out at once.

A sick fear filled my gut. I’d never used a board before, and I couldn’t even recall where I knew it from, but still, I knew with absolute certainty you weren’t supposed to take your hands off the stupid little cursor before you ended the thing. I knew something bad would happen if you did. 

I ran.


	2. [2]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [2]  
3 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
57 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

When I made it back to the safety of my own home after following Hayner until I could see familiar suburbia, I immediately realized that we had left absolutely everything behind in our frantic attempt to escape. I had slammed the door shut and reached for my phone to call Hayner, but...my pockets were all empty. I didn’t remember taking my phone out before we’d messed with the board, but maybe I had. Maybe it had fallen out of my pockets while I had been running? 

Whatever the case, I didn’t have it, and after calming myself down, I resigned myself to having to return to find it. I also decided I was going to give Hayner a good shouting at the first chance I got. It was late and the adrenaline was wearing off, and I had no means of communication or internet distraction now, so I quickly just threw on pajamas and climbed into bed. Strangely, despite being still worked up from the whole evening’s events, I slipped off to sleep immediately, before I even realized I was tired enough to do so.

The next morning, with no alarms or sounds of messages to rouse me, I slept in a great deal longer than I normally would have done. By the time I’d drug myself from my room and to the kitchen, my mom was long gone off to work and Naminé was clearing up a plate from what looked like lunch. When she saw me, she smiled cheerfully with a slightly teasing look on her face. 

“Hungover?” she teased sympathetically, but I just stared at her in confusion, asking what she meant. She laughed. “I assumed you came home drunk when we found your stuff outside. Whoever you were with last night came by and dropped it all off.” That must have been Hayner’s way of apologizing, I thought as I went to the doorway to collect my things. That notion was immediately shot down as I approached the pile of things on our entry way table and just stared at them, even more confused than before. It was everything we had left behind; not just my phone, wallet, and keys, but Hayner’s bag and phone, his candles...every single thing we had brought into the forest, except the ouija board. I remember checking my wallet, which still had my cards and cash, as well as Hayner’s, but nothing appeared to have been taken. 

I grabbed my phone from the pile and returned to the kitchen, deciding to eat something before heading over to Hayner’s to return his things and to talk. I couldn’t stop thinking about who could have returned our things, though. It was...really weird. We had been out in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. The more I thought about it, though, I began to realize there was a totally rational explanation. Maybe the thing that Hayner had seen behind me was a stranger in the woods, and that’s why he flipped out. Maybe the stranger gathered our things and followed me home trying to return them. That was all I could come up with.

While I was eating, more from habit than any real expectation, I clicked on my phone and was surprised that it was still on and lit up under my touch. I unlocked it and nearly choked on my food as I saw what was on the screen.

The generic note app, the one that comes downloaded with the phone but that I never used in favor of a different app, was opened up on the screen. The more disturbing part was what had been typed out onto the screen, making it clear the app hadn’t been opened by accident.

_’nice house, blondie.’_

My blood turned to ice in my veins. Whoever had done this...they hadn’t taken anything, and were making sure I knew that they knew my address and what I looked like. I was terrified by the thought of some creep living out in the woods, following me home, watching me. Leaving me a message, on my own phone...my fear began to spiral as I realized they’d probably looked through my phone, seen pictures of me. If I was holding onto hope that they’d only seen me from afar, that was now shattered. 

My face must have looked awful, because the next thing I knew, Namine had leapt to my side and was looking at me with a deeply concerned look on her face. She asked what was wrong and I held out my phone to her, murmuring that it wasn’t Hayner who had dropped the things off. She read the note, then frowned heavily and reached to take the device from me; she yelled and yanked her hand back as if she was in pain.

“Roxas...what did you _do_?” she asked, horror etched onto her delicate features, before she turned and darted towards her room. I sighed, figuring it scared her that I’d led some unknown freak to our house, and pushed away from my lunch. I wanted to leave, feeling uneasy, so I grabbed Hayner’s stuff and left the house, locking it behind me. He’d seen the fucker; maybe at least he’d have enough of a description that I’d know who to look out for.

When I got to Hayner’s place, I was greeted by one of his roommates rather than him. He told me Hayner didn’t want to come to the door and to just go to his room, so I did. Hayner was standing there, peeking out of a narrow opening to see who it was, and he quickly ushered me inside and closed the door as soon as I had come far enough in to do so. I gave him a grim smile when his darting eyes finally meet mine.

“Oh don’t worry, bro. He followed _me_ home,” I said bitterly, knowing he was thinking about the creeper he’d seen in the woods. Hayner’s eyes grew round as saucers, looking stricken, before he muttered a weak ‘fuck you’ and shoved me.

“Don’t joke about that shit. I don’t wanna talk about it,” he said, sounding pissed. I rolled my eyes, handing him the bag he’d left and all his things. He started to thank me before I interrupted and held out my phone, with the note pulled up on the screen. I told him I wasn’t joking, that the things had been dropped off at my door, about finding the note. I watched his expression shift from confusion to horror to absolute refusal. He shook his head, mouth set in a hard line.

“Stop fucking with me, Roxas. It isn’t funny.” He was getting angry, voice hard and accusatory, but that made me mad, too. This was serious, and he was the only witness to my new stalker’s face.

“I’m not, Hayner. Stop being an idiot. I need you to tell me what he looked like, so I know who to look out for.” His head was still shaking back and forth, faster now, and he held his hands up. When he snapped back, he sounded scared.

“You don’t know anything, jackass. I don’t wanna talk about it.” I scowled deeply at that; this guy could be dangerous or something for all I knew. Why was Hayner being so sketchy?

“Listen, man, think about Naminé, or my mom. He’s been to our house, he’s probably seen photos of us from my phone, he could have copied my keys...I need to know what he looked like,” I insisted, and Hayner’s face twisted into an unrecognizable mask of dread and panic.

“You don’t get it,” he finally said in a low, hollow voice. “What I saw...he wasn’t just some crazy guy living in the woods. It was the thing from the board. Axel, or whatever.” I scoffed, but...my stomach dropped. He didn’t really look like he was pulling some elaborate joke; he looked more like he was about to be sick.

“How can you say that for sure? It was dark, and we were psyching ourselves out. That’s what makes the _most_ -“ Hayner cut me off with a barking laugh.

“He was on _fire,_ Roxas. How about you keep an eye out for _that_?” he spat, and then all but pushed me out of his room without saying another word.

I felt so torn up as I made my way back; I didn’t know if I should still be worried about the more realistic idea of a crazy, forest-dwelling stalker, or if the nagging voice wanting to take Hayner’s words seriously was right. When I got home, however, I had another issue on my hands.

Naminé was sitting on the porch steps, waiting for me. She was deathly pale and looked shaken. I rushed to her, but she began speaking before I’d made it all the way up the path to the door.

“I need to know what you did to invite it into our home,” she said urgently, blank gaze falling onto me. I winced, but it was clear from her expression that there was no point playing dumb. I remember asking why she needed to know, just trying to stall for time as I thought of what to say to her, but I wasn’t expecting how she answered me.

“Follow me,” she commanded, standing and silently leading me inside to the entry way table. On it there was one of her bundled smudging stick things, a handful of lighters, a few packs of matches, and the long butane torch lighter we used to light the fireplace. “Watch.” She picked up her smudge stick in one hand and one of the lighters in the other. 

She flicked the lighter to life, but as soon as she brought it towards the bundle in her other hand, the flame went out. She flicked the lighter again, and held it still as she instead moved the bundle towards it; the flame blinked out on its own again. Naminé dropped that lighter and picked up another, but that too would not stay lit. Neither would the torch, or even matches. She stared at me until I picked up a lighter myself, just then realizing my hands were shaking as I fumbled to grab a lighter. I flicked it to life, and the flame flared brightly before going out immediately, before I’d even touched the little bundle or moved in the slightest. I dropped the lighter and we both immediately stepped back outside, and my sister looked just as shocked as I felt.

“I’m going to go stay with some friends tonight, get their ideas of what I should do,” Namine murmured, looking down at her smudge stick rather than meet my gaze. I nodded, stomach twisting. She was scared to stay there, it was clear. She wouldn’t even go back inside; she begged and pleaded until I went to get her a bag and a change of clothes, and then she left immediately. I spent the rest of the afternoon jumping at everything, and by about ten that night, I’d worked myself up into a rage over the whole thing. 

I was holding my phone, staring at the note I’d been left, when a wave of fury rolled over me. How dare whoever this was get me so scared and upset? How dare they frighten my younger sister out of her own house? How _dare_ they make me spend my time worried about them? 

I kicked off my shoes and stomped my way across the ice-cold floor to my bed, throwing back my covers and grumbling to myself as I climbed under my warm, comfortable blankets. I hadn’t even turned off the lights, but I immediately regretted it as I realized I was already feeling like dozing off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on _why,_ but something about my cozy bed was quickly lulling me to sleep. I rolled over, frowning at the phone in my hand grumpily. Fuck that guy. 

Half asleep, I typed a little ‘fuck you’ under the note and set my phone down right on the pillow next to me, unconsciousness claiming me as soon as my eyes closed.


	3. [3]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [3]  
3 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
68 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

Waking up some time later, I was incredibly disoriented. Everything felt absolutely wrong, and my brain took forever to process what was going on. I sat up, my eyes adjusting slowly to the complete darkness and stillness in my room. I struggled to figure out what was going on, what had woken me, why everything felt so strange. 

My room was completely dark, my house totally still and quiet. What time was it? Usually even in the dead of night, our window let in enough light to dimly see the surrounding room. I fumbled around, feeling for my phone, and found it in its familiar spot, plugged in and on the corner of my bedside table. I clicked on the phone.

The second the screen lit up, my brain clicked. I didn’t put my phone there. I didn’t plug it in. I remembered falling asleep with the lights on and the phone beside me. I briefly considered Naminé as the answer when I quickly remembered that she was staying with friends...because of...my hand shook as I stared at my phone. It was 4:57 in the morning. I was afraid to unlock the device for a moment; I took a deep breath, tried to ignore the panic clawing at me, and opened it. The note app was still open, but there was a new message below my sleepily added expletive.

_’that’s not very nice. I thought you’d appreciate not having to go back out to get your things.’_

What. The. _Fuck._ I leapt out of bed, bare feet hitting the freezing floor and shocking me awake further. I rushed to the window, where our curtains were uncharacteristically drawn, and whipped them aside to look out. It had snowed overnight, leaving a peaceful white blanket over everything. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, casting everything in a reddish-orange light, and showed something that squashed my last attempts to believe that a human was breaking into my house; the snow was perfectly unbroken around my home, with no footprints or marks at all in the powder.

I began to panic, shaking from both cold and fear, and went back to my bed to huddle in my blankets as my mind spun. The blankets were cold already just from my brief absence, and I was so consumed by my panic over ‘Axel’ that it took me a few seconds to realize why the cold sheets seemed notable to me.

I’d fallen asleep last night quickly, in a warm, comfortable blanket. Why...was my bed warm?

I noped the fuck out of there, grabbing my phone and bolting out of that bed and to the living room. I got a spare blanket rather than go back and get the one from my bed, and am now sitting here on my couch in the dark, scared out of my mind. I’ve come to you, reddit, because I don’t know what to do or if I’m safe or...what I may have let out while using that ouija board. 

Do any of you have any ideas or know something I don’t? Should we leave the house or have it blessed or something? Should I...keep trying to talk to it with my phone? I don’t know if that would make things better or worse.

Anyways, let me know what you think. I don’t think I can sleep in a bed I’m unwillingly sharing. I hope Naminé’s friends have some ideas. I’ll update soon on what happens when I hear from her.


	4. [Update 1]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update 1]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
71 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

So, it’s been a week, and there are a lot of things I need to fill you guys in on. After the first night Namine was gone, she came back early the next morning, armed with a full bag and a determined look. When I showed her my phone and told her about my bed, she looked a little concerned.

“Do you... _feel_ his presence?” she asked hesitantly, but I shook my head. I told her I didn’t, or at least I didn’t know how to tell if I did or not. She paused in the doorway before stepping inside, and I followed.

The house was normal, looking bright and cheerful as it usually did. Aside from the place I’d slept, the living room and kitchen were tidy and quiet. I joked that it was _too_ quiet and that maybe we should get a pet, but Namine me ignored me, slowly passing through the house and towards the bedrooms. She stopped outside our door, hand extended but not quite touching it.

“I don’t think it wants me in there,” she murmured, then looked at me. “Can you open it without feeling uncomfortable?” I shrugged, unsettled by her reaction, and opened the door. I pushed it open and we both just stood in the hall, looking in. It was exactly how I remembered leaving it, except...my bed was made. Pristinely, as if a hotel staff had come in to make it with mechanical perfection. Namine and I exchanged glances; my bed was _never_ made. Namine’s remained as it was, so we couldn’t even blame our mom coming in to make them.

“I’m going to try to do a few things. Can you go outside? I think it’s clear that whatever this is, it’s focused on you.” I nodded, creeped out, and beat a hasty retreat. I sat on the porch, messing around on my phone and waiting for her.

After an hour, I was getting really bored. After two, I started getting worried. What was she doing in there? Was she alright? I sent her a text, and waited; a few minutes of concern before she answered back that she was fine and not to bother her. I was getting tired of sitting out there doing nothing, but I tried to be patient. Another hour passed, and I was ready for lunch. 

I called her, trying to see if she wanted lunch, but as I’d predicted, she declined my call. I shrugged and set off, walking to a fast food chain at the end of my block. I wasn’t planning on being gone long, but...that was before the dog. 

When I got to the place and stepped up to wait in the line for the register, I absently stared out the window and was surprised to see an absolutely massive black dog of some kind sitting alone in the grassy space just outside the restaurant’s parking lot. But...saying it was a dog doesn’t describe this thing accurately. It was thin and gangly like a coyote or a wolfhound, but it was bigger than any wolf or dog I’d ever seen. 

It was just sitting there, staring in through the window, and I tried to dismiss it as a dog just waiting for it’s owner, since I saw no people nearby. I looked away when it was my turn at the register, and I quickly forgot about it as I placed my order and sat down to wait, checking my phone. My food was called, and I picked it up and headed out the door. I pushed open the door and had made it across the parking lot when I heard a dog whining.

I glanced towards the parking lot, but the dog was gone. My head turned back and my heart skipped a beat as I rested my eyes on the huge black canine that was seated directly in front of me now. Even sitting, it was so tall it’s face was almost level with mine, and that’s when I noticed it’s unnaturally vivid green eyes. They were stunning, and almost human-like in their expressiveness. It held my gaze for a long, long moment before whimpering again and holding up one of its front paws, like a dog trained to ‘shake’ would. I looked around, but there wasn’t an owner in sight, and the creature definitely wasn’t wearing a collar. I love animals, but I wasn’t too keen on reaching out and touching some huge, potentially wild animal; I slowly started to move around the dog, giving it a wide hearth.

Or, I tried to.

When I moved to the side, the black dog turned with me, keeping it’s eyes on me. When I got far enough ahead that I turned away from it, though, it let out a quick bark and sprang to my side. I froze, trying to remember all of the things you’re supposed to do in a dog attack, but it didn’t touch me. It sat down again, whining and staring at me with an intense look. 

I glanced at the bag of food I carried and back to the dog; maybe it was after my lunch? I pulled out a few fries and tossed them into the grass a few feet away, but the dog completely ignored them and I could almost _swear_ it rolled its eyes. I tore a piece of my burger off and held it out slowly towards the dog instead; it sniffed the meat but snorted and didn’t take it. 

At this point I really didn’t know what I was doing. The dog didn’t seem to want to harm me, it was just _big_. Out of some knee-jerk reaction and for reasons I can’t fully explain, I spoke out loud to the dog as I took one step backwards in the direction I needed to go.

“Well...I’m gonna head home now,” I said, and the dog jumped to his feet, tail wagging. I was confused, but I sadly figured the dog was lost and when I said ‘home,’ it reacted because it was looking for it’s own place. So I turned, and this massive wolf-like beast leapt to heel, happy smile over _very_ large teeth. I didn’t want to yell and startle this thing, and it wasn’t doing anything wrong, so...I just let it follow me.

It seemed ecstatic, bounding around me happily but never going further than a few steps away. We weren’t going far, just down a sidewalk lined on one side by residential homes and the other by a narrow grove of trees, but the dog seemed to be _so_ happy to follow me. After a few moments, it began to try to play with me, running into the trees just barely and then heading back to me eagerly. I glanced down the lane, knowing I’d just be waiting more when I got there, so I figured humoring this dog for a few minutes wouldn’t be a big deal.

We traipsed through the trees, with homes and sunshine still visible from our location. The dog was running ahead chasing birds or squirrels, then running back to me and circling me a few times before running ahead again. I kept walking in the direction of home, amused by the antics of the dog, who I decided was just an overgrown puppy. I’d always wanted a dog. It was cool to see it so excited just to be out with me. After a while it found some abandoned tennis ball, and I began throwing it for the dog as we walked. And walked.

I honestly can’t explain why, but I didn’t once question how much time was passing, or how we could possibly still be walking when I knew for a fact that grove of trees ended at the end of our neighborhood. I never heard or felt my phone go off, and never once felt the need to check it. It was just me and that big dog for just this endless time, enjoying each other’s company. I only realized time had passed when I noticed that the sun was setting through the trees, and my stomach dropped.

I hadn’t even eaten my lunch. How was it getting so late? The canine, returning with the ball, saw me looking out through the trees and dropped it, whining and spinning in a circle, trying to regain my attention.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta go,” I said to it, making my way towards the sidewalk beyond the trees. The dog whined again but followed me, at my side like a faithful working dog. The thing _must_ have been someone’s pet, it seemed to have nearly perfect obedience despite its size and intimidating appearance. When I broke out of the trees, I was surprised to find myself almost directly across the street from the row my house was on, but grateful as now I could clearly see the sun sinking into the horizon. I hurried towards home, dog a silent shadow at my side but remaining so close I could have touched at any time.

When I was only a few houses away from ours, I saw Namine standing outside, looking frantic. She saw me and ran towards me, not even waiting for me to make it to her, demanding to know where I’d been and why I hadn’t been answering her calls or texts. I was startled and told her I hadn’t received any, that I’d been messing around with the stray dog, but when I pulled out my phone to show her...I had about fifteen missed calls and about twenty texts, but I had never noticed the notifications somehow. 

When I looked back up into Namine’s eyes, she looked really concerned. I told her that I had no idea how I’d missed them, that I’d just gone for lunch and walked with the dog and I supposed had lost track of time. Namine looked confused at that, asking what I was talking about. The dog was huge, and I wasn’t sure how she could possibly _not_ see it, but when I looked down at my side, the dog was just...gone. 

I hadn’t seen or heard it leave, and I saw no trace of it in the yards or street around us. Namine said she’d never seen it, not even when she was running up to meet me. She told me that she’d been getting really strong answers from the thing in our home, but after I’d called, the same time when I’d left to go get lunch, everything had just stopped completely, and she got no further indication the thing was there at all. 

We talked for a while about what she’d been doing. Namine told me she had done some ritual one of her friends had suggested, then set up a yes/no system of communication with the thing. She had been excited when it began working; she said it told her ‘no’ it didn’t want to harm them and ‘no’ it didn’t want them dead. Then...she stopped being as excited with the responses.

Namine told me that when she asked if it liked me, it gave a very strong ‘yes,’ but when she asked if it liked her it said ‘no.’ When she asked if it was leaving the messages on my phone, it said ‘yes,’ but when she asked it wanted to talk to her, it again said ‘no.’ That was when her phone went off with my text, and apparently after she answered me, it started to get angry.

Before she could ask anything else, it was repeatedly signaling ‘no.’ When she asked if it was upset, it said ‘yes,’ and when she asked if it was her fault, it said ‘yes’ again. She didn’t know what she had done, so she asked if it would leave them alone. It stopped, perfectly balanced between the two choices, so she asked instead if it wanted them to leave. ‘No.’ She asked if it was looking for a new home. ‘No.’ She asked if it was looking for _something,_ and got a ‘yes.’ 

Then my call interrupted them, and though she quickly silenced it, she said she felt a tension in the room that hadn’t been there before. She waited a moment and was about to begin questioning it again when the front door slammed back on its hinges. She said the tension immediately disappeared from the room, but after that she couldn’t get anything from the thing in our home. She thought maybe the door was it’s signal that it had left. She kept trying to communicate with it for a little before giving up and coming out to talk to me.

She said she’d been waiting for me, calling and texting, for over five hours. 

I didn’t get her messages, and I felt like I’d only been gone for maybe an hour tops. I was...floored. I’d just been _gone_ for that entire time in a small patch of trees in the middle of suburbia. How was that _possible_? We went inside, me silent and lost in thought, and she led the way to our room. When we got to the doorway, I was so oblivious that I passed her to go in and sat down on my bed before I noticed what she had from the hallway.

My side of the room looked completely normal, exactly how it had been. But my sister’s side...on her bed were two open bags, and strewn over them and most of her bed were piles of her clothes and things. It looked almost like someone had just flung contents from various drawers at the bags, as if...packing for her.

We both looked from the mess to meet each other’s eyes, before Namine swallowed hard and said in a quiet voice that she would stay with Xion again. She wouldn’t even come in the room to get her things, so I actually packed her a bag and gathered the things from her ritual and walked her out, at this point just feeling numb. I had no idea what to do, what to think. I was scared, I was confused, I felt like I was going crazy.

I was about to get into bed, but when I reached for the pristine blanket, I just...couldn’t. In an act of defiance against this thing pushing my sister out, I grabbed my pillow and stomped back out to the couch, then laid down, planning to just distract myself with YouTube and social media and reddit until I was tired enough to sleep. I fucked around for a few hours, but my mind kept returning to my sister ‘talking’ to it and what the answers could mean. I pulled open my note app, thinking about what _I_ would say to it.

It...had left a new message. Somehow, while the app had been closed and I had had it on my person all day, there was a new message on it since I’d last looked at it this morning.

_’didn’t you say you wanted a pet?’_


	5. [Update 2]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update 2]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
71 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

I didn’t know how the message could have been left, or what it meant, but I was starting to get overwhelmed. I wondered what kind of answers it would give me, since the notes were much easier to communicate through than the ouija board or simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ choices were. I sat and thought about what to say until my eyelids were getting heavy, and I blearily just typed out one of the many questions swirling around in my head.

‘were you the dog?’

I fell asleep quickly after that with my phone on my stomach, but when I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t find my phone anywhere. I checked the blankets, the couch cushions, underneath it on the floor, but it was nowhere to be found. My mom was home that morning, a rare surprise; I heard her bustling around in the kitchen. I got up and went to ask her, rubbing my eyes and yawning as I went to go give her a hug and a ‘good morning.’ She tousled my hair and made me breakfast, but told me she hadn’t seen my phone.

After a minute, she suggested that maybe Namine had moved it, and I realized that Namine hadn’t told her about the things that had been going on. I didn’t want to bring it up and start all that first thing in the morning, so I mumbled an agreement and then got up to go check, despite knowing my sister wasn’t home and couldn’t have done it. When I got to our room, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to pretend to ignore ‘Axel.’

I hadn’t wanted to sleep in the meticulously made bed, and Namine had slept elsewhere, but apparently someone had decided to rest there. The blankets were untucked and rumpled, as if someone had tucked themselves in and stayed there overnight. The worst part...there was my cellphone, plugged in and sitting on my bedside table in its usual place. 

I approached it hesitantly, unplugging it as I picked it up, and sure enough, there was a new message below mine.

_’would you prefer a cat?’_

A cold feeling washed over me. This was insane. Ghosts couldn’t turn into animals. Right? What did it mean that, apparently, this thing could? I wandered back to the kitchen in a daze, phone in hand. My mom praised my sister for being kind and I think I mumbled back an answer, but after that we just ate quietly. I couldn’t think about anything but the message. After a while, my mom got up to get ready for work, and then I heard her call out a loud ‘goodbye’ as she headed out the door. Instead of the front door closing, however, I heard her start speaking.

“My, aren’t you handsome! Where did you come from?” I heard her coo, as if she were speaking to a young child, and my heart sank. She only talked to babies and animals in that voice. I pushed away from the table and rounded the corner to the entry way, stopping immediately when I saw my mom standing there, front door open, fawning over a giant, fluffy black cat. It was like a maine coon, all fluffy and regal with gorgeous green eyes just like the dog had. It was looking up at my mom with an almost smug expression, but when I came into sight, it’s eyes snapped right to me. My mom praised it once more before heading to her car, and then I slowly walked to the door where the cat was waiting.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, the cat meowed loudly, hopped to its feet, and circled me as I walked to go sit on the edge of the porch. It took the place at my side when I settled, just like the dog had, and I almost reached out to pet it’s fluffy fur but stopped myself. If this was some sort of demon or dark entity or whatever, I wasn’t sure it would appreciated being treated like a house pet. The dog _had_ seemed to like fetch, though...

“Well, what now? What do you want from me?” I asked the cat vaguely, unsure of what to do next and wondering if I was crazy for talking to a stray cat like it would answer me. But at my words, the cat got up, walked a few steps away and in the direction of the grove of trees at the end of the street, and then turned to look at me expectantly. It meowed again, like it was telling me to come on, but I shook my head with a weak laugh.

“Oh no, I’m not letting you steal me away all day again,” I said, and the cat huffed and came back to stand in front of me. It cocked its head, then walked past me to sit in front of the open front door. As if it were closed, the cat pawed at the space where the door would be and meowed loudly at me. I just stared. It wanted to go into my house? 

It had obviously already been inside my house, would it really matter if I let the cat in? My phone was on the table inside, so I couldn’t call Namine, but when I thought about her, I got an idea that I’m still not sure was a good one.

“Will you talk to me and Namine if I let you come inside?” I asked the feline seriously. Those emerald-green eyes looked like they were laughing as the cat let out a meow that sounded almost sarcastic. I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh. “Will you answer our questions if we set you up a way to communicate with us?” I clarified, and the cat _nodded_ at me. Then it pawed at the invisible door again, looking at me questioningly. I got up, going through the door and telling the cat to ‘go ahead and come in’ after me.

Then I went to call Namine.

When I told her that I had the thing with me in our kitchen and needed her to come home so we could talk to it, she absolutely freaked out. I could hear her friend in the background, asking what was wrong, and then I heard them both clearly as the friend announced that I was on speakerphone. I gave them a brief summary of what had happened since I had last seen Namine, and then told them that after inviting the cat in, I’d gone to call her and now the thing was seated on our kitchen table, looking like it was listening in to the call as well. Both girls went silent for a long moment, and out of pure instinct, I absently reached out to pet the cat in front of me. 

I caught myself with my hand outstretched, just a few inches away from soft-looking black fur. Green eyes blinked slowly, looking between my hand and my face and back again before rumbling out a low, throaty sound. It was so deep and startling that it took me a moment to realize; it wasn’t growling, it was _purring._ Then it leaned forward and gently touched the tip of its nose to my outstretched fingers.

When it’s nose connected with my skin, the cat was the only thing that existed to me in that moment - that’s the best way I have to describe it. It closed its eyes happily as I let my fingers run over its head and into the thick fur around its neck. It was soft, even softer than I’d imagined, and _extremely_ warm, like it had just been laying for hours under the midday sun. It made a humming sound, arching itself to rub into my touch, then opened both of its eyes and locked them with mine. Without really even meaning to, I brought my other hand up and had all my fingers tangled into long, black fur, just staring into those emerald green eyes. Neither of us moved for a long moment.

Until the front door burst open and Namine and her friend dashed into the house, looking panicked. The cat and I both jumped, startled, and the cat hissed at them.

“Roxas, are you alright?” Namine asked hurriedly, eyes locking onto the unhappy-looking cat on the table just in front of me. I was confused, wondering how they’d gone from speakerphone to inside the house in seconds, and just said that I was fine and asked why. Namine’s friend was looking back and forth between my sister and I, and then finally told me that she and Namine had tried to talk to me, but I never responded to them. Worried the call had dropped, they hung up and called back, but I had not answered. Namine had a bad feeling so they gathered their things and made the twenty minute trip to our house to see what had happened to me. In the seconds I’d been petting the cat.

I threw the cat a look, frowning at it disapprovingly, but it was meticulously cleaning its claws and pretending to ignore us. I told her friend about what the dog had done yesterday, and the girl looked pretty excited, to be honest. She leaned down to look at the large cat, smiling widely. She looked up to Namine, who still looked concerned about the animal.

“Can I stay and help out while you talk to it?” she asked, but Namine didn’t take her eyes off the creature, which had looked up at the question and was staring back at her.

“I don’t know. Let’s ask it,” she murmured, and I felt really nervous about what was about to happen. Her words just seemed really...ominous. Her friend didn’t seem to notice and eagerly went with Namine to our room to set up. I waited with the cat.

It was strange, but even after knowing it had trapped me with it again somehow, I didn’t really feel threatened by this...Axel. At least, not anymore. He didn’t seem as scary after I’d had my hands buried in fluffy, warm fur. He was watching me curiously, and I just gave him a similar look, thinking about how I felt about this whole crazy thing. Wondering vaguely if it would creep me out as much if the warm spot in my bed was left by a fluffy cat rather than an unseen presence. Then the girls called for me, and the cat leapt down from the table and led the way to my room.

They had made three cards; one with ‘yes’ written clearly across it, one with ‘no,’ and one with ‘other.’ The cat huffed and flopped down, sprawled out in such a way that his paws were near the cards, and the rest of us sat around him. I had taken a spot near him on one side, Namine’s friend was on his other side, and Namine sat across from him. She looked around at us all, eyes finally settling on the cat, which stared back with a blank expression. 

“Are you a cat?” Namine started with, and the cat threw me a look like it was sharing a joke with me before putting his paw lazily over the ‘no.’ Namine’s friend clapped her hand over her own mouth to stifle an excited little squeak and I rolled my eyes.

“Are you Axel?” I asked, and the cat was quick to move to ‘yes.’ It seemed more willing to answer my questions, especially when he was just as quick to pat ‘yes’ again when I asked, “Were you the dog, too?” Namine nodded, brows furrowed.

“Were you answering my questions yesterday?” she asked, and the cat grumbled a little before much less urgently signaling ‘yes’ again. Her friend chuckled nervously, but Namine ignored her. “Do you remember telling me you were here for something?” The cat tilted its head at my sister, looking like it was studying her, then indicated ‘yes.’ She and her friend exchanged a significant look; clearly they’d talked about this part of the plan.

“We would like to help you so you can move on,” Namine said as she returned her focus to Axel. “Would you tell us what you’re here for? Can you do that?” Axel looked up to me and meowed loudly, and I, like an idiot, didn’t understand.

“You can tell us. We’ll do what we can to help you,” I encouraged, thinking Axel was just reluctant to share the information with us. The cat rolled its eyes at me again - this time, Namine and her friend confirmed it when I asked them later- and stood. For a second after he climbed into my lap and laid himself down there, I thought he was signaling that he was done with our game. I was slightly disappointed, I think. Until I looked up.

My sister’s friend was meeting my confused look with one of pity. But Namine, she had a frozen look of horror and was even more pale than usual. I looked down at Axel, who had his eyes closed but had tilted his face up towards me with a sort of serene smile and was purring loudly. As soon as it clicked, my heart sank. 

He _was_ giving us an answer. He had found what he was looking for.

Namine shook her head back and forth slowly, as if rejecting the idea, but her friend swallowed hard and confirmed, asking if I was what he wanted. The cat completely ignored her, continuing to purr up at me. The fear I had dismissed just a few moments ago started to creep back to me. My sister took a sharp breath, then pushed the cards within reach of the feline in my lap.

“Do you wish to cause Roxas harm?” she asked, voice soft but direct. Axel turned to look at her and signaled ‘no.’ Well, that was at least a little comforting. I felt even better when she asked if he wished to end my life and he answered ‘no’ to that as well. Then they asked questions that he wasn’t as happy to answer.

“Will you be leaving soon?” the friend asked, and Axel stepped on ‘other.’ The girls exchanged another look.

“What would happen if we asked you to leave?” Namine asked pointedly, and that was when Axel apparently lost his temper. He hissed at her and swiped claws at the ‘no’ card. I was startled, having an angry demon cat in my lap, but Namine somehow kept her composure. She looked pretty angry herself. “What if we tried to _make_ you leave?” 

Axel sprang from my lap and braced himself between me and them like a lion, long fur puffed up and making him appear even larger in stature. He arched his back, all but blocking me from their view, and glared at them, growling. I didn’t know what to do; I was completely frozen in shock, as was Namine’s friend. My sister, however, had gotten to her knees and looked like she was about to stand and somehow I _knew_ I would not be okay with the outcome of those two fighting. I didn’t know what to do, but for whatever reason I reached out a hand and touched Axel’s shoulder closest to me. He whipped around, blazing green eyes capturing mine, and I could barely breathe under his gaze.

“What do you want from me?” I managed to ask, and a look of deep longing filled his overly-expressive face. He meowed and walked to the door of my room, turning his head to look at me over his shoulder when he was halfway through. He meowed again, this one much longer and louder; a call for me to come.

Namine and her friend both had to grab onto me to keep me from going with him.

He meowed again, then turned and walked out of the room and out of sight. After a moment the girls let me go and though the three of us searched everywhere inside and around the house, we couldn’t find Axel anywhere.


	6. [Update 3]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update 3]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
79 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

I wish that my update ended with the last part, because the rest of this...to be honest, I feel pretty guilty and a little embarrassed saying the rest of this. I’m pretty sure what I’m doing is...really wrong. So back to the story.

After the cat had gone, the girls were quick to leave as well. I asked them if they had any idea about what Axel was going to do, but Namine quickly shook her head at me. She pulled out her phone, typed something out, and then pocketed her device. A second later, my phone went off, and I pulled out my phone to see her text on the home screen; ‘he’s probably listening. going home with Xion, I’ll text you after she and I talk.’ I unlocked my phone to reply to her, but the note was open and pulled up rather than the home screen, and I’d received yet another message from Axel, despite my phone being with me.

_’you keep asking me questions.’_

I was intrigued, and curious as to how I kept getting the messages, but clicked out of it to reply to Namine with a ‘sounds good’. The two of them left hastily, and after I’d walked them out, I pulled my phone out. I was extremely surprised to see something new from Axel; he clearly didn’t need to have physical access to my phone to leave one, as it had been in my pocket the few minutes since the last one.

_’can I ask you one?’_

I hesitated for a long moment. This seemed like a trap. It really did. But I also couldn’t help but admit that it was true; from the ouija board until just now with the cat, almost every interaction involved him being questioned. I tried to ignore the weirdness of the situation and tried to consider it from his side; then, before I could second-guess myself, I responded.

‘sure’

I waited to see if a message would type out or something, but nothing happened. Then I figured maybe I had to lock my phone or close the app or something, so I got the power button to lock it and waited another minute. When I unlocked it again, I had a new message.

_’do you want me to leave?’_

Reading his message, I felt a twinge of guilt. He hadn’t really tried to hurt me, he’d consistently denied wanting me harmed or dead...but then I remembered the time I’d lost with him, and tried to stifle the feeling.

‘depends. what do you want from me?’

I locked the phone again, trying to resolve myself. I was being too trusting. This was a fucking demon or whatever. I should be suspicious of everything it says or does. I opened the phone again.

_’are you scared? right now, I just want to get to know you.’_

I had to think again after that. This seemed like a _really_ bad idea. I could almost hear Namine yelling at me, and my mom’s stranger danger talks from when I was a kid. I logically knew better. But...this was different. I did know who was on the other end, or at least, I knew enough to know he wasn’t an online predator. I’d touched him. I...I guess I trusted him. I think I had since I’d had my fingers in soft fur. I was scared and thrilled by the unknown he presented, but I didn’t feel scared of _him_. I...decided it would t hurt to talk to him. Maybe he’d give me clearer answers.

‘ok. what do you want to know?’

I shouldn’t have encouraged him. I know people are going to say that. I’m not sure I regret it right now. I might in the future. We started talking.

It was kind of exciting, like exchanging numbers with someone you’d just met. We talked about a lot of things, from my life history to normal human things that Axel had no knowledge of. He was funny and sarcastic and...kind of flirty. It was weird. There wasn’t anything overt or uncomfortable, but...sometimes his messages made me laugh out loud, or blush, or consider if he actually knew the implications behind his words. 

When Namine and Xion called me later, I...didn’t tell them about it. I think that was the first moment I felt guilty about anything. It was like...I was talking to the enemy. Namine made it clear that she considered Axel an enemy, that was for sure. She and her friend promised they would work on finding a way to get rid of him, and I thanked them and hung up, and then just went right back to talking to him anyway.

Maybe I felt lonely. Maybe it was just too intriguing to ignore. Maybe I’m going insane. I don’t have any real justifications for my actions. But Axel and I talked until I fell asleep, phone in hand, on the couch where I’d been hanging out. The last message I received from him was him saying he hoped I had good dreams. Maybe that was what the trigger was, or maybe it was just because we’d been talking all day, but that was the first night I dreamed of him, too.

It wasn’t like a normal dream, where things resemble places you’ve been and the people are those whose faces you’ve seen before. It wasn’t instantly a nightmare, but it wasn’t whimsical either. I was sitting high up on the edge of a building, looking out at a brilliant sunset from dizzyingly high up in the air. In my dream, I wasn’t concerned about where I was or the height or anything. I knew I was waiting for something, so I just waited, staring out at the skyline. I didn’t have to wait long.

After just a moment, I heard motion behind me. Somehow I knew that I shouldn’t look, _couldn’t_ look, so I didn’t, but someone came and sat down on the edge next to me.

“Hey, Roxas! I’ve got something for you!” The voice was gorgeous, warm and rich, full of humor and something intense. I still kept my eyes on the view in front of me, but I saw something blue held out to me in my peripheral, and I took it. I was pleased to see that it was an ice cream bar. Something was carved into the stick but I didn’t focus on it; I took a bite of the frozen treat. Sweet, but also salty. It was the best thing I’d ever tasted. I sat next to the stranger for a long moment as I enjoyed the ice cream and the quiet company, and everything just felt so _right._ I remember feeling so content. The voice spoke again, sounding like he was just as happy as I was.

“The name’s Axel. A - X - E - L. Got it memorized?” The corners of my lips twitched into a smile that I couldn’t hide, but when I opened my mouth to answer...I blinked, and my eyes opened to reveal my darkened living room. I noticed I’d been tucked in, and then my phone screen lit up although there was no new notification on the display. I opened my phone to see another message on our note.

_’let’s do that again soon.’_

The next morning, I woke up and began what has come to be a pleasant routine between us. We traded messages throughout the day while I was home, and when I left, either a big black dog accompanied me. During the day, we mostly talked about me or mundane human things or just traded conversation, but at night...Axel took me to the tower and we shared ice cream, and that was really the only time he wouldn’t dodge my questions about him. It was also much harder to think of what I wanted to ask during that time, though. We mostly sat in comfortable silence, but if I thought of something to ask, he would answer me freely. And that’s how things have been going for the most part since my last update. 

I do have a few things to add and, well...confess, I suppose. The first and most upsetting is that Namine has moved in temporarily with her friend Xion. She is convinced that Axel is not to be trusted and that he wants to do something bad to me. She also believes that he’s listening in when we talk, and will now only communicate through text with me. She’s also doing her best to figure out how to get rid of him, but hasn’t come up with anything promising yet.

The next is that I finally moved back into sleeping in my room a few days ago. My mom had left me a note one morning, asking if Namine and I were fighting and if that’s why I was sleeping on the couch, if I wanted her to talk to my sister. I sighed, feeling bad; I didn’t want my mom upset because she thought we weren’t getting along. I wrote her back a quick note saying things were fine and I’d just been having trouble sleeping the past few days, and got a curious message from Axel asking what I was writing. I told him she was asking why I hadn’t been sleeping in my bed, and he innocently asked why I’d stopped. I started getting snarky with him at that.

I told him it was because someone else appeared to have decided it was theirs with some attitude, but that made him laugh. 

_’come back to your bed. I didn’t know it bothered you.’_

That seemed unlikely, but I thought it could have been true...I don’t think I’d ever actually told him to stop because it made me uncomfortable. I was still irritated, though. I snapped that of course it would bother me to know a stranger was sleeping in my bed. His reply...was not what I’d expected.

_’we’re not strangers anymore.’_

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean, he was _right._ I spent more time with him or talking to him than I did with anyone else. And we were on good terms, we didn’t argue, we...were _friends,_ I realized. But by the time I clicked in to leave a message of my own, he’d already continued.

_’would you let the dog sleep with you?’_

That actually seemed pretty reasonable. At least it wouldn’t be a ghostly presence, and I’d always wanted a dog of my own. I said okay, and the subject dropped, and the day went on. That night, though, Axel suddenly said goodnight to me and stopped sending me messages. A little later, there was a scratching on my front door, and when I opened it, the big black wolfy dog bounded in happily. 

He jumped up - standing even taller than me on his back legs- then put his huge front paws over my shoulders and licked a huge line from my chin to my hairline. I laughed and pushed him off, and the two of us headed to bed. He waited for me to get in and then hopped up, stretching himself out against my back. He was warm; far warmer than a normal dog would be, I’m sure. I was quickly lulled to sleep, comforted by his presence. When I dreamed, I stayed with him longer, and we sat closer together.

“This is a clock tower, did you know?” he said at one point in that smooth voice. “It’s always been my favorite place to go and get some time to myself, but...I think I like it better having you here with me.” The remark was so casually made, in the dream I didn’t feel the need to reply. But I remember feeling really happy knowing he’d shared something special with me. 

That brings me to my confession, reddit readers, and me questioning my own sanity. Because lately, I’ve realized just how much I enjoy his presence and crave his company. How much I like talking to him and how eager I am to make him like me. 

It started talking to Namine, because she was telling me that she’d come up with a few leads to getting rid of Axel. Reading her texts, I couldn’t help but imagine him being gone from my life, things back to how they’d been before. I realized I didn’t like the thought; no more all-day conversations, no more wolf curled at my side while I fell asleep, no more clock towers and ice cream in my dreams. It sounded...lonely. I know I shouldn’t have, that it would be a betrayal to Namine, but I told Axel about it.

_’you cute little thing. don’t worry, she can’t do anything to me’_

His message made something flutter in my chest. It was more than being comforted by his quick dismissal of the situation. I liked him calling me cute, liked how it made me feel, for some really stupid reason. I wish I could say I realized the foolishness of that and brushed it aside, but I didn’t. Instead, I worried about him.

‘how do you know? she’s got friends who are super into that kind of stuff...and she’s pretty set on wanting you gone’

I wanted him to reassure me, I think. I just kinda liked this demon best friend thing I had going on. He changed everything with two lines.

_’nah, the only one who can get rid of me is you, sweetheart. Or you could just come away with me ;)’_

I didn’t reply back for a while, but I thought about that answer for a long time. On one hand, he had just given me a clue to get rid of him. On the other...he’d never made any sort of offer or attempt to steal me away again after the last time with the cat. Him so casually asking me to go off with him and the pet name made my heart beat quicken, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t from fear. You don’t blush when your afraid, do you? In the end, we let the conversation drop, but...

I don’t want to leave my friends and family and life. I don’t want to let some demon take me away to do god knows what to me. I don’t want to end up dead somewhere far, far away from home. Yet I have to admit, I keep coming back to his question and _thinking._ Almost, but not quite, considering. 

Am I crazy? Should I just cut off communication with him? Is his intention to get close to me and then convince me to leave with him? If that’s the case...why don’t I want to get rid of him?

Why does it seem like I might have some sort of _feelings_ for him?

Please, let me know what you guys think. For now, I’m gonna try to just...see how things go. I kinda hope Namine doesn’t really make any progress, but I’ll update you all soon.


	7. [Update 4]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
84 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

So, I was thinking it would take a little bit longer to update since my post yesterday, but...something changed last night, and I’m getting worried. 

After I’d talked to Axel and he told me that Namine couldn’t get rid of him, I’d been feeling better. But I hadn’t been wrong about my sister; she is dead-set on removing Axel from my life. We finished talking on a somewhat sour note late in the afternoon when, after she had spent practically all day promising that she would get rid of him, I finally snapped at her, saying I wasn’t sure she could. I didn’t want to tell her what Axel had told me - despite the fact that I’d told Axel about what _she_ had said - but I was getting more and more upset by her determination and just wanted her to stop talking about it. 

I was so irritated, in fact, that I decided to take a walk and blow off some steam. The sun was just starting to set, and it would be cooling off outside and peaceful. That sounded like a good way to clear my head. I didn’t bother saying anything at all to Namine; I left my phone right there on my bedside table and headed out the door, quickly joined by a fluffy black mass of wolfy Axel. He bounded around me happily until he noticed my irritated expression and stomping walk, and then he settled into an even gait at my side, keeping pace with me easily.

It took me almost an hour until I was calm enough to stop my angry prowl and let my frustration and anxiety go, and after that Axel perked up too. The rest of our walk was peaceful, and I even ran around with Axel in an open grassy space we came across before I finally turned to head back. I took my time heading home, enjoying the sun’s dying rays, until finally we’d made it to my street and then to my mailbox. 

Before we’d made it even halfway down the sidewalk, Axel stopped dead at my side and the most bone-chilling growl I’d ever heard in my life ripped from between his massive, suddenly-bared fangs. I froze, heart hammering hard in my chest, before I saw his eyes focused on a small white line passing across the sidewalk in front of us. I crouched down and realized what the finely-ground crystals had to be almost immediately; a ring of salt. I looked in the grass on either side of the pavement and sure enough, the path of the salt extended into the lawn, presumably all the way around my house. I looked back to Axel curiously; why would a little salt bother him, when he said Namine couldn’t get rid of him? But the black dog was walking away from me in a semi-circle, headed towards one of the trees in my yard. Now even more curious, I followed.

Axel began digging furiously at the base of the tree in a patch of already upturned dirt marring the grass there. After just a few seconds, he let out a yelp and then growled again, no longer digging but assuming a pose like a pointing hunting dog. I cautiously leaned over to look and found the edge of some sort of black, crystalline rock poking through the dirt; I dug a bit with my fingertips and then tugged it from the earth. It was a big crystal, about the size of the palm of my hand, and it had some sort of glyph or symbol carved into it.

It was Namine’s, no question about it. Axel let me around the ring of salt, and we dug up a total of five, each with a different symbol. As soon as I’d removed the last one from the ground, Axel barked twice and raced for the door, leaping easily over the salt. When I made it to the door behind him, he scratched at it and then looked at me, clearly wanting to be let in. As soon as it was open, he pushed past me to snarl at a white envelope on the floor that had clearly been pushed under the door.

Namine had written it, saying she was sorry to have upset me and that she was sure I was scared. She was going to start her attempts at getting rid of Axel, and that she wanted me to let her know if anything changed. She loved and missed me. I frowned at it and then at Axel- or I would have, but he was gone.

I suddenly heard a voice faintly coming from my room, cursing in a smooth and immediately recognizable baritone. The voice grew louder, seemingly heading down the hall towards me, and I noticed a weird reddish-orange light flickering in the darkened hallway shadow, growing brighter by the second.

“That little _witch,_ ” Axel spat venomously, “thought we were here. If she’d done that while I was inside...it wouldn’t have gotten rid of me, but it would have hurt like a _bitch.”_ Then, from around the corner, Axel appeared. And he was _not_ a dog.

I’m not proud to admit this, I’m a young adult male and not a little kid, but I let out the most undignified, pathetic ‘yelp’ when a ball of fire stepped out of my hallway.

It took me several seconds to get myself focused enough to realize the absolutely huge plume of flame was approaching me swiftly, and that it was actually not just a burning flame racing through my home. It was a like, _super_ tall man, long red spikes of hair and familiar emerald green eyes blazing with rage, completely engulfed in flames that licked at the ceiling and floor but left no scorch marks or burns behind.

“She’s making me angry, Roxy. You should really tell her not to mess with me.” He stopped in front of me suddenly, so close the heat radiating off of him caused me to sweat immediately, and crossed his arms. Then he bared his inhumanly sharp teeth - fangs? - in an predatory snarl, and I...fainted. Yeah, yeah, I’m a huge baby, apparently. He scared the _shit_ out of me right then, though, guys. I’m kinda surprised I didn’t piss myself, not gonna lie.

When I dreamed, Axel was already waiting for me. I tried to continue to not look at him, but he let out a loud huff at my side.

“There’s no point, now. You’ve already seen the worst, I probably won’t seem very scary at all in comparison.” He wasted no time explaining his words, but he didn’t need to; the feeling that I shouldn’t look was just not there anymore. I peeked over, and...he was right, he really didn’t seem scary at all. The first and most noticeable difference was that he wasn’t on fire. That also let me get a better look at him.

He was like, multiple feet taller than me. I’m short, but he would have been crazy tall even if I were average height. His extremely pale, angular face was completely perfect and smooth, with two black inverted teardrop shapes under his eyes. His eyes I’d seen in the dog and the cat, so I expected them. He was wearing a black coat and boots and gloves, and was sitting with his legs hanging over the ledge of the tower. When he smiled, though, his teeth were still too sharp.

I tried to talk, but in this dream, I couldn’t seem to get any words out. It didn’t matter, though, as Axel spoke and answered some of my unspoken questions. He said he was sorry for scaring me, that he was just too angry to think about staying in the other form. 

He told me about the sigil trap that my sister had set around the house, that if he’d been within its borders he would have been pinned and in pain and would have been unable to leave the prison until her ring was broken. He bragged that he would have noticed her making it if he’d been there, though, and then grew more serious as he snarled that I needed to get her to stop before she _really_ tried his temper. Then he sighed and went quiet for a while before perking up again . He leaned over to playfully nudge my shoulder.

“Hey, you gotta admit though...I’m pretty _hot_ though, aren’t I?” He laughed loudly at his own joke, and the sound was still in my ears when I woke up. Then I got on here to make this post. The wolfy Axel snuggled up at my side is sleeping, I think. 

I’m really nervous. Like...I’m pretty sure if Namine pisses him off, he’s gonna retaliate or something. She’s my sister, I want her safe. If you’d seen the anger in his eyes, you’d understand why I don’t think Axel’s very merciful when he’s mad. I’m also _very_ sure I don’t want to find out what he’d do if _I_ pissed him off.

And...let’s be real, guys, I’m being painfully honest with y’all about this and admitting I’m probably crazy for this, but...he _is_ hot. God, I’m going to hell for this, but he’s just like, stunning. Maybe it’s like how everyone is into the elf or the vampire or the werewolf in books and movies lately, but even though everything about him screams ‘dangerous and scary,’ it’s also...very attractive. 

Please tell me wtf to do. How do I ask a hot demon not to kill my sister in a way that will also not make him pissed off at me as well? I’m gonna update after I read your advice and decide what to do.


	8. [Update 5]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep• KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep• 76 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

First of all, thanks to the readers and commenters out there who aren’t calling me crazy and to those of you worried about my sister. I got a few ideas from you since my post this morning, but...I don’t know if what I did helped or made things worse. Let me back up a little bit.

Shortly after I’d updated, Axel woke up beside me. I mean, to be fair; do demons sleep? Maybe he was awake and just pretending to sleep...I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid or insightful anymore. Anyway, it was then that I realized that, though I’d fainted near my kitchen, we were in my bed. I suppose he’d moved me. 

Usually in the morning, Axel leaves the house as a wolf and then we’d start messaging on the note app, but today, things were clearly going to be different. Instead of hopping off the bed, the black canine gave me a mischievous doggy grin and then rolled over half on top of me. He was so big he easily pinned me there, one of my arms and both legs under him as he lay on his back and stared at me upside down. I laughed and pushed at him, but he was absolutely immovable, and I was actually starting to get flustered when his weight was suddenly gone. In the blink of an eye he was standing over me defensively, teeth bared in a silent snarl, facing the doorway. Before my brain could catch up, a knock sounded at the front door. Axel leapt off my bed and raced for the door, and I scrambled to roll off the bed and chase after him. 

I was terrified, knowing there was no way I could physically overpower or maneuver the massive demon dog back from the door, but I ran out to see him sitting a little bit away from the entry, glaring but maintaining a bit of distance. I ran up and opened it to reveal my sister.

“Hey Roxas,” she greeted me, but I saw her surprise and disappointment when she took in the gigantic, angry Axel over my shoulder. “Oh, you’re still here?” she sneered at the demon in the bitchiest voice I’ve ever heard from her. Namine is usually so polite and kind...I’d never heard her talk like that. Axel snarled loudly, a gruesome sound that made my hair stand on end, but my sister didn’t even flinch. She took a step inside, forcing me back a step, and the wolf leapt to his feet, snarl turning into a gut-wrenching growl.

“Okay...alright, I think we all need to sit down and talk,” I said hesitantly, holding a hand out towards each of them as I took a step between them. Namine frowned and nodded, but Axel took an aggressive step forward again. I was thinking about how my sister might become dog chow right in front of me and about all the comments saying Namine was probably in real danger rather than how scary I knew he could be when I fully turned towards Axel and crossed my arms.

“You’re twice her size and have fangs. Come back less threatening or after she leaves, whichever you want.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back, but it was too late so I tried to remain calm. I was shaking so hard I’m surprised he couldn’t tell, but he gave me a wounded look and slunk away towards my room. I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful he had been chastised rather than furious at my demand, and ushered Namine towards the couch. A few seconds after we’d sat down, Axel stalked back into the room as the fluffy black cat, grumbling as he came to me and jumped up into my lap. I rolled my eyes.

“We need to discuss boundaries,” I remember beginning weakly, trying and failing to sound firm. I tried to be realistic, without taking a clear side. “I don’t want to watch you two fight. I don’t want anyone harmed.” My pacifing words had the opposite effect; Namine looked stunned at my apparent betrayal and Axel hissed from my lap, giving me a look that clearly said she started it. I sighed.

“Namine, I know you’re trying to save me, but he’s not really doing anything wrong. Axel’s just been hanging out here. It’s not very fair to physically attack him unprovoked.” She looked at me like I’d just grown an extra head and Axel started purring smugly, but I turned down to him next. “Namine is my sister. My family. I protect her. Hurting her means hurting me. Understand?” Axel grumbled a little but looked away, hopefully backing down. “No physical damage. I’m not saying you have to like each other, but I don’t want to be in the middle of a fight between you two.” I thought that would be it. I stared at Namine until she agreed with a sigh, but Axel huffed and put his paw on my pocket that held my cellphone. I tugged it out and saw the note, already up.

_’i will not harm her as long as she stops. If she continues to provoke me, though...I make no promises.’_

I wordlessly showed the phone to Namine, and her expression darkened as she read the threat. Her eyes snapped to Axel, and she sneered.

“Oh, did it _hurt?_ Good. I’d ask how you managed to get out of it, but clearly you’re getting into my brother’s head. Well, I’m not going to let you have him. I take back my agreement, Roxas. I’m not making a deal with a demon.” She turned and stomped towards the front door, and I followed, begging her to think about it. She paused before she left, looking grim.

“I don’t know what it’s doing to you, or why you’re letting it in, but this is a _demon,_ Roxas, not a house pet. He didn’t come here to play the part of a domesticated animal. He’s up to something, and if you can’t help yourself, _I will.”_ She turned and stomped out, slamming the door in my face.

That...probably could have gone better.

I went back to the living room, where Axel was sitting, paw on my phone where I’d left it on the table. I approached, trying to look disapproving, but ended up giving in to curiosity and picked up the device.

_’Will you still be scared if I go back to my human form? I want to talk to you.’_

I steeled myself and nodded to him, and the cat hopped up and trotted away. Seconds later, I heard Axel in the hallway.

“Don’t go fainting on me again, cutie,” he teased before he slowly strolled into the room, much less intimidatingly than he had yesterday. My heart still leapt into my throat as the primal fear of the huge flames clashed with the instinctive desire to help the figure engulfed in them. I did neither and instead, like my early dreams with him, I averted my eyes and sat down.

“That’s better,” Axel purred, and I saw the fire drape itself sideways over the arms of a chair. “So since your sister didn’t feel very agreeable...what about you? _We_ could make a deal.” The way he was asking was almost seductive, alluring in every way. I was deeply curious, but alarm bells were going off in my head; I didn’t feel great about combining the words ‘deal’ and ‘demon.’

“Uh- what did you have in mind?” I stammered my question, and he let out a low chuckle that had my thoughts headed to places they definitely shouldn’t be going.

“Awh Roxy,” he cooed at me like I was a timid but cute pet. “Are you scared of me?” I couldn’t help it; I flinched when he suddenly hopped to his feet. He let out a mocking sigh. “I usually like how you mortals look at me on fire, let me see...” He snapped his fingers and a long black coat, the one I’d seen him wear in my dreams, appeared around him. He shrugged into it, zipped it up...and the fire went out. He looked like he did last night; angular and impossibly perfect, long red spikes of hair fanning out around his head and shoulders.

“What kind of deal are we talking?” I asked again, pretending to be unmoved by his casual control of the inferno. He laughed, an honest and pleased sound.

“That spunk is one of the reasons I like you so much.” He beamed at me, but his eyes sharpened and his smile quickly turned into the predatory grin of a cat with prey between its paws. “Why don’t you bind with me? Then I couldn’t harm her if you directly told me not to.” I narrowed my eyes at his innocently eager expression.

“What’s the catch?” I’m not stupid, and this sounds like the most basic play a demon could make. Instead of sitting back down, he began walking towards me, looking at me like he wanted to just _devour_ me or something. 

“Oh, it’s just like, you saying I’m _your_ demon and you’re _my_ human. You’ll be able to talk to me in your head. It’ll be really cool. Bonus for you, if you expressly command me to do something, I’ll have to do it. That’s a lot of trust for me to be placing in you, you know?” By this time he was standing _right_ in front of me where I sat on the couch, his feet between mine, and leaned down over me, bringing his face so close our noses were almost touching. His breath was warm and smelled like smoke. “Come on, it’ll be fun.” His lips were moving so close to mine I could _feel_ his words.

I almost fucking kissed him, you guys. I kind of wish I had, but ultimately I’m a huge coward and besides, I’m not sure if that would have been considered agreeing to his deal, too. I squeaked our that I wanted some time to myself to think and could he leave me in peace for a few hours til I decided. He gave me the most pathetic puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen in my life but told me of course. He’d come back tonight and we could pick up our discussion then. It was only then that he leaned back and away from my face, giving me a quick two-fingered salute before he turned and stride towards my front door. 

I didn’t hear it open or close, but I haven’t seen or heard from him since then. I came up here to my room and have been writing this out. So...do any of you have any guesses about this ‘binding’ stuff and why this deal sounds too good to be true? Should I do it? It’s kinda seeming like the only way to have any real control over him, and if Namine’s gonna keep coming after him...

It might be the only way to keep her alive.


	9. [Update 6]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
2 weeks ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
90 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

Fuck. I did it. Fuck. _Fuck._

So some people mentioned - and don’t worry, I noticed, too - that Axel was intentionally not being specific when it came to laying out the details of our...deal. I was too flustered by him before to really articulate my questions, but after I’d taken time to think and read over some of the comments that were left, I figured I was ready.

I hadn’t taken the time to consider what my sister was doing since she’d stormed out, though.

At exactly eight in the evening, Axel strolled into my room like he owned the place and flopped down on my bed next to me. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but Namine and I each have a twin bed, so it was by no means spacious once he’d draped himself over it. I scooted over as much as I could and shot him a disapproving look, but it just made him laugh.

“You let me sleep here every night,” he teased me, “Does the form I’m in really still matter?” He...kinda had a point. Unless I was willing to admit my problem was that I didn’t wanna kiss a _dog._

“N-no, it’s fine,” I muttered, and Axel grinned like he knew what I was thinking.

“So anyway,” he hummed, shifting even closer to me so that my bent knee was tucked against his chest, “about that deal...” I swallowed hard and gave my best no-nonsense tone.

“So what _exactly_ will ‘binding’ with me do?” I questioned, but Axel smirked and nuzzled his face into my leg just above the knee he was holding.

“It’ll make us closer,” he hummed in an almost sing-song, and looked up at me. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” I tried to scoff at him, but I could feel myself blushing like an idiot.

“What will happen if I say yes, though?” I pressed. Axel’s hand inched a little further up my thigh, and I had to work to keep still. I’m not really sure if I was stopping myself from moving away, or moving closer, but that turned out to be irrelevant.

“I’ll be yours. I’ll forfeit chasing down anyone else so long as our deal stands. I’ll be compelled to listen and do what you command for the rest of your mortal life. Think of it like...how humans exchange promise rings. But ours would be...more permanent than that concept.” I was about to push him on what exactly _I’d_ be giving in exchange, but his next words were a punch in the gut, and it totally derailed my questioning. “Plus, it’ll keep your little witch safe.”

“What...I don’t want to make this about Namine,” I said, but I had a really sinking feeling about him mentioning her. 

“ _She_ made this about her,” he growled, and then looked down and became apparently fascinated by the stitching on my pants as he added lowly, “and anyways, she’s fine for the moment.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” I snapped, starting to panic. “What did you do to her?” Axel glanced up at me, smiling in a way that didn’t quite make it to his eyes.

“You know, if we were already bound, I’d probably tell you.” There was a tense pause as I sat there, unable to come up with an appropriate response, before his mercurial mood shifted again and he clapped his hands with a laugh. “Look at it this way, though. Now we’ll have an audience!” He surged to his feet, grinning, and held out a hand to help me to my feet. I just stared at him.

“Where is Namine?” I asked blankly, the question that was most pressing. I could figure out everything else, but if he’d hurt her...

“She’s waiting for us,” he told me, and when I still did not move, he sighed dejectedly, and it immediately made me feel guilty despite the fact that I was the one questioning _him_ about if he’d harmed my sister. “I do have a contingency plan for if you say no, but...I’d really like you to say yes.” I frowned and opened my mouth a few times, but I just...didn’t have words. 

Reluctantly, I took his hand. He perked up instantly; he was chuckling as he eagerly tugged me out of my room and then out of the house. I was instantly apprehensive, especially as he led me along the familiar path I usually traveled to Hayner’s place. He seemed to catch my suspicion, but if anything it just exacerbated his excitement.

“I thought it would be cute, ya know? Do it at the place I first saw you.” He beamed and I couldn’t keep my face from flushing. That...was actually kind of adorable. I hadn’t gone back there since he’d ended up returning our things. But when we got to the small clearing, I stopped dead at the sight we were met with.

If Namine hadn’t been my biggest concern, I would have said it was almost...romantic. When we’d come, we’d only lit a handful of candles, but now the entire area was surrounded by hundreds of tiny flames softly illuminating the space. But I immediately noticed what else was cast in the glow, just outside of the circle of light; my sister.

Namine looked strange. She was standing with her hands out, palms flat and facing me. My first thought was that she looked like a mime; this image was furthered when I saw her ball up a fist and slam it forward like she was banging on a door, only to stop midair as if she had struck something solid. Her mouth was open, it looked like she was yelling at me, but I heard no sound.

“What did you _do_?” I stopped, pulling my hand from Axel’s, frozen on the opposite side of the circle from Namine. She continued to beat on thin air, eyes locked with mine, but the redhead was all smiles as he turned back to me.

“Nothing! You should actually be proud.” He looked pleased with himself, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with her being inside some invisible box. “Besides,” his voice became a growl, “she broke your rules first. She should feel lucky I decided killing her might ruin the mood for you.” A chill ran up my spine at the very _real_ implications behind his words.

“Wh-what did _she_ do?” I managed to whisper, but Axel waved his hand dismissively, a smile returning to his lips.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle, obviously. Now, whaddya say, Roxy?” He took a few steps back, eyes never leaving mine, until he was roughly in the center of his circle. “Can I bind with you?” He held his hand out for me, ready to take mine.

I still didn’t know what my side of the thing even was. Namine pounded on the air with both fists now, silently screaming at me. I didn’t know what to do.

I took a step into the circle. 

Then another.

Then another.

I looked up at Axel, tall and cast in shadow with the most joyous expression I think I’ve ever seen on anyone. He was so handsome in that moment, glorious in his victory. I took his hand.

All at once, everything seemed to slow down around us. The air didn’t move, the sounds of the night were gone. The colors were gone, too; everything was a sort of misty greyscale.

 _’You’re on my side,’_ I heard Axel’s voice in my head rather than with my ears. His voice became a soft, pleased sigh. _’You look so good over here.’_ Before I could ask what he meant, he abruptly pulled me closer with our still-linked hands until I thudded against his chest. I didn’t have time to process, to _realize_ what was happening before his other hand was cradling my face and tilting my head back and he was leaning down and-

When he kissed me, I think _that_ was when the binding really happened. Maybe I just have weak human emotions and the change was psychological, but...I don’t think so. It was like a wildfire, sweeping through me. I felt hot, molten, from the inside out as the pressure from his lips made me gasp in surprise and his tongue swept into my mouth, quickly taking advantage. 

I was burning, scorching, and when my tongue hesitantly responded and touched his teeth, I was cut by a sharp canine tooth. I tasted blood; I know Axel did, too, because he let out a low, deep groan and shuddered before throwing himself back into our kiss. I was breathless, I was on fire, and then...I opened my eyes, and we were still in the clearing. My clearing, or whatever. The color was back, the wind was blowing...Namine was slumped to her knees on the ground, a look of horror on her terribly pale face.

I quickly drew back from Axel, who was also giving me a weird look. His wasn’t like Namine’s...truthfully, he looked almost stunned, which was almost comical on his usually smug face. He touched his lips as if in a daze, and when he pulled his fingers back, they came away bloody. I quickly realized the wound in my mouth was still bleeding. It must have been deeper than I’d realized.

“That...was one hell of a bonus,” he muttered quietly before he licked my blood from his fingertips. I turned away, feeling more afraid than disgusted by him, and ran towards Namine. Axel didn’t even turn, didn’t wait for me to ask, or order; I heard his fingers snap and the barrier was gone before I even reached it. When I went to help Namine to her feet, she flinched away from me and started sobbing. 

I think I fucked up really bad here. 

After a while, Namine let me take her back to her friend’s place. She didn’t speak the entire time. She even _texted_ me her friend’s address. Axel had left us in the forest; I’d turned around at one point and he was just _gone,_ but I felt him somewhere close by. I came back to an empty home, and I’ve been typing this up for you since then. I think I really screwed up and I don’t even know the extent to which I’ve screwed up, and I just-

Oh shit, he’s coming back. Update soon.


	10. [Update 7]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
1 week ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
104 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

It’s been a few days, sorry about that, but things have been pretty messy around here and...well, let me just start at the beginning.

When Axel came back to me after I’d dropped Namine off, he was...different. I’d been pretty upset after the whole ordeal, but Axel burst into my room looking like he’d just won the lottery. He was on my bed in seconds, large hands warm on my skin as he grabbed my arms. An easy, gentle pull drug me off the pillows I was reclining against and then I was sitting up facing him as he mirrored my position.

“Ya know,” he began, “you really surprised me back there. I’ve gotta ask...was that intentional? Do you know what you did?” My heart sank. I mean, based on his reaction, it was pretty clear I’d done _something,_ but the way he’d said that...it made me feel this gnawing anxiety.

“Uh...” I trailed off, and I saw his face fall. It made me realize just _how_ happy he’d seemed since the woods. On top of that, I felt this overwhelming surge of emotions that I knew even in the moment weren’t mine.

Hurt. Confusion. Guilt. Sadness. Anger. And a deep, longing _yearning_ that I’d never even experienced on my own. Axel’s mood rolled over me like a storm cloud even as he put on a perfectly neutral expression, and the rush of feelings dissipated.

“I suppose it was an accident, then. That’s...unfortunate.” He fell pensively silent, and I did too, full of my own guilt for reasons I can’t begin to explain. It was clear that I’d disappointed him. How had everything gone so wrong so fast, I remember asking myself. Then Axel let me go and turned away as if he was going to leave.

“I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t really promise much. Deals made in blood are notoriously hard to break...that’s kinda the point.” He stood, still refusing to look at me, but the dam he must have put up to hold his feelings in check seemed to cave then and it was...heartbreaking. And in that second, I couldn’t let him leave.

“Please, Axel, wait,” I leaned up on my knees, stretching out towards him. Even though my fingers didn’t quite reach him, he turned, and his devastated expression tore at me. I rushed to admit my own stupidity, hoping to at least understand _why_ he was so worked up over the whole thing. “I don’t even really understand what I was agreeing to in the first place. I don’t understand what changed. I can’t...I don’t know what’s wrong.” My words were quiet at the end; I felt a little ashamed at my own idiocy.

The effect on Axel was instantaneous. The redhead gave me a weak smile and sat back down on my bed, scooting towards the middle where I was before rubbing the back of his head somewhat sheepishly.

“That’s kinda my fault...I _guess_ I might be overreacting a little bit, then.” This time, instead of grabbing me, he held out his hands, palms up, a clear invitation. I thought he just wanted to hold my hands while we talked, so I hesitantly placed my hands in his. But boy, was I wrong.

He just... _gave_ me the information I wanted. I don’t know how else to explain it; there was no rush or flashes of things I was downloading into my brain, there was no lapse in time while I processed it. One second I was putting my hands gingerly into his, and the next second I had ripped them back and threw a punch at him.

See, what I hadn’t known about the original deal was a little stipulation Axel failed to mention; I got all the things I was told for so long as I lived, but once I died, my soul would be his to take. Axel figured it wasn’t worth mentioning, since I wouldn’t be around at that point. The idea of losing an afterlife wouldn’t be a concern, because as a human I didn’t know I was supposed to get one. Axel would stick around and be whatever I wanted him to be until he could collect his part of the agreement.

The blood, however, changed things. Apparently, that was a ‘forever’ kind of commitment, and it meant that instead of Axel simply claiming my soul when I died, I was promising him my soul for eternity. Rather than dying, I’d become a demon like him, and I’d be bonded to him, staying with him. If the first deal was the equivalent of a demon promise ring like Axel had said, then I’d essentially shown up with a wedding band instead and eloped with him by surprise.

Apparently I was just _full_ of surprises, because he hadn’t been expecting me to swing at him. My punch connected with his chest, and the look of shock and betrayal on his face was probably exactly how I looked.

“You- you- _why didn’t you tell me_?” I shouted, pushing off my bed to put some space between us. “You idiot, if you’d told me, I would have been more careful! I didn’t even know you were going to kiss me!” I stormed around my room, picking up my wallet and keys and phone. “I probably still would have said _yes_ ,” I seethed, knowing that if I’d been choosing between an afterlife and my sister, there would be no contest. I kicked open my door, muttering, “I’m going to talk to Namine,” before I turned back to give him one more glare. 

Axel’s expression had crumpled, and he looked absolutely beside himself. He was still sitting exactly as he’d been with me holding his hands, palms up on his knees, but his head and shoulders had turned to follow my movement, and he seriously made me feel like I’d just destroyed him. I was so mad, but his deep regret and pain cut it right out of me. I paused in the doorway for a long, quiet moment, until something sparkling in the corners of Axel’s eyes finally broke me. When I fully turned back towards him, a tear slipped down his cheek.

“I’m...sorry,” he said in a strained voice. “I don’t regret it, but I’m sorry.” He paused, and then in a much more subdued tone, added, “If I’d had a choice in the matter, though...I would have chosen you.” I didn’t know what to say, but I knew I wasn’t being fair or rational.

“I’ll be back tonight,” I finally promised lowly, turning back to leave. I still felt like an absolute ass, though, so I muttered, “I’m sorry I hit you,” before practically running from the house.

I called Namine, but she didn’t answer; that wasn’t gonna stop me, though. I still had Xion’s address from dropping her off, so I went there, justifying it to myself that if I wasn’t welcome, someone should have answered my call and told me so.

When I got to the house, Xion answered the door, but didn’t look that surprised. On the contrary, she let me in without a word, invited me to sit on the sofa, and then went to get my sister. It took a while, and I’m sure some coaxing on Xion’s part, but after a bit of a wait Namine came into the room alone. She kept her eyes on her hands, but took a seat in a chair opposite me.

“What happened, Nams?” I asked her quietly, cutting straight to the point. A scowl took over her normally peaceful face, and when she spoke, it was angrily directed at the ground.

“Your _boyfriend,_ ” she spat, and I saw her hands ball into fists, “kidnapped me. I was by the woods at the end of our street and he grabbed me, threatened me, then drug me off to that clearing and trapped me there for hours. He’s real chatty. Told me what you two were doing. How long were you planning this?” I sat, completely blindsided by what she told me. I hadn’t even _decided_ to take his deal, and Axel was out there kidnapping my sister to use as leverage? Lying to me about it? Threatening me with her safety?

“Namine, I...I don’t know what he told you, but I hadn’t even decided to go through with it until we left to go to the woods. And I only did it because he said it would keep you safe.” Namine snorted derisively, and I started getting angry. “He told me you tried to do something to him first, and that if I agreed to ‘bind’ with him, I could keep him from doing anything to you. I was just trying to-“

“How does making out with a demon have anything to do with keeping me safe?” she snapped, and she finally brought her face up to level me with a furious glare. I shrank back in my seat; when she put it that way, it didn’t sound as justifiable. She wasn’t done verbally lashing at me, though. “Who are you going to believe, your _sister_ who’s trying to save you from yourself, or the _monster_ who’s after you?!” She jumped to her feet and stormed out of the room, and I didn’t have the guts to follow her.

She was right; all she’d done was try to keep me safe. I didn’t know Axel’s motivation at the best of times, and he’d already intentionally kept the truth from me multiple times. When Xion came back, I let her lead me out.

“She’ll come around. She loves you, Roxas,” Xion said kindly before closing the door, and with a heavy heart and still-simmering anger knotted in my chest, I headed for home to have a conversation with my demon.


	11. [Update 8]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
1 week ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
97 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

When I got back to my house, it was quickly approaching midnight, but I was too worked up even consider sleeping. I was a mess; I didn’t know who to trust or what I should do or how to feel. But I also knew that I _needed_ to have a conversation with Axel, if for no other reason that to figure out if he was still lying to me and to resolve what happened earlier. Even furious about what my sister had said, I still felt terrible for punching him.

There was no feeling of him in my house when I entered, but I figured this was a great opportunity to see if I’d gained all the things Axel promised in our deal.

_’Axel?’_ I called tentatively in my head, feeling ridiculous, before I felt a stirring acknowledgement. 

_’Roxas? You came home! I’ll be right there!’_ He’d sounded distracted at first but quickly reverted to enthusiasm and in a matter of seconds he was in the doorway. He paused there, and I honestly have no idea what expression I wore, but it was enough to make him cautious as he slunk into my room. 

“Hey,” he murmured dejectedly, hesitating by the desk as I took my bed. I sighed; I didn’t really have a tactful way to lead into what I wanted to talk about, so I settled for diversionary tactics.

“Hey. Where were you?” I asked, thinking this would be simple enough to get the conversation moving. Apparently, though, he wasn’t too keen to tell me.

“Oh, just around,” he hummed, eyes wide and innocent. I crossed my arms. This was _exactly_ the problem; Axel kept things from me. How could I trust someone, let alone want to spend all of eternity with them, if they wouldn’t be honest with me? I decided to test out another one of my promised ‘gifts.’

“Tell me what you were doing.” I watched as the redhead’s posture went rigid and he narrowed his eyes at me. He was clearly not pleased by my exploration of my new abilities, but he answered.

“I was talking to a few friends, getting some advice on our situation.” That took me by surprise; I didn’t know demons had friends. Axel smirked dryly at my expression. “They had a similar situation to ours, but Zexion at least knew what _he_ was getting into. His human has been a demon for like, two hundred years now?” My head was spinning. This had happened to other people, too; I suppose that really shouldn’t have taken me off-guard. He used my silence to cross his own arms. “You didn’t have to _make_ me answer you, though. I thought talking about my side too much right at first might make you feel pressured.” That was enough to snap me from consideration to irritation, and I threw up my hands.

“Oh, didn’t I?” I asked sarcastically. “Because when I don’t, you just give me bullshit, partial answers.” We glared at each other in the tense silence that followed my words, but...strangely, I wasn’t really afraid of him anymore. I was just pissed. Axel, apparently, was offended.

“I only keep things from you if I think they’ll upset you,” he defended, hands on hips. “I’m _trying_ to protect you, but you just keep barreling into things you don’t understand.” I was angry enough that I didn’t feel admonished by his words. 

“Oh yeah? Wanna tell me what happened with Namine, then?” I was ready for whatever shitty answer he had, now that Namine had told me the truth of the matter.

_”She started it,”_ he snarled, eyes flashing. “I caught her using magic I haven’t ever encountered before, which is saying something. She was TRYING to force my energy from this world by ripping it to shreds. I stopped her, and I was about to pay her back in kind before I thought about _you._ I wanted to spare _your_ feelings more than I wanted vengeance, and let me tell you, I’m not known for sparing those who have wronged me.” Instead of letting him try to play my emotions, I pretended to yawn.

“Oh, is story time over?” I said with as much disdain as I could muster. “See, I heard a different version from Namine. She said you took her and trapped her and told her all about what you were planning on us doing, well before I’d ever agreed.” Axel shook his head with a mean laugh.

“You can’t seriously believe-“ he began, but I just kept going before he could finish the thought.

“I’ve lived with Namine for my entire life, and she’s never given me reason not to trust her. _You,_ on the other hand, have been keeping things from me and trying to trick me since the minute I met you.” 

“Are you really going to-“ Axel began again, but I’d had it.

“Give me _one_ reason why I shouldn’t demand you tell me the truth.” For a second, I thought Axel was going to lunge at me. A harsh, angry snarl erupted from him and he thrust a hand out towards me. I flinched before I realized he was just extending his palm out, and he held it there despite his furious stare. I put my hand in his, wondering if I’d get it back with all my fingers. Then, I didn’t know what to think anymore.

I was given Axel’s memories of the event. I wanted to be skeptical, I really did, but...I’d never mentioned Namine’s drawings to him, nor he to me, yet that was how the started. Namine was sitting on a rock at the edge of the trees, drawing with a hate-filled expression I’d _never_ seen on her. The view shifted as Axel presumably circled her, and the sketch she was working on came into sight. It was a drawing of the wolf form Axel took, with its leg in a trap and ropes holding it down. After another few seconds, she set down her pencil, ripped the page from her sketchbook, and then pulled out another sheet of paper, this one lined like it came from a notebook.

Then she began a chant that meant nothing to me but _clearly_ meant something to Axel, because I could hear him growl and saw him close in on my sister from behind. In one swift movement he jerked the sketch out of her hands, and she spun to face him with a screech and fury dancing in her eyes. I couldn’t see Axel in the memory, but I could hear his voice.

“Well now. I’ve heard the saying about the cat being away and the mice coming to play, but man, are you one fast mouse.” Instead of backing down, Namine crossed her arms and gave a look that could have probably killed lesser souls.

“I will destroy you. No matter the cost, no matter how long it takes. You should give up before you’re too late.” Axel’s field of vision lowered until it was obvious he’d put his face just inches from hers. His words came out sweet like honey.

“If Roxas wasn’t so fond of you, I would gladly eat your heart right now.” Namine paled a little at this, but Axel wasn’t through. “You’re lucky, little witch; he’s going to bind with me tonight, and if I killed you before we did, he might get upset with me.” 

“He’s going to _what?”_ Namine looked disgusted, and tried to back away, but a large hand reached out and caught her upper arm.

“He’s going to give his soul over to me. I’ll be with him until his dying day. And if he wants me to _play housepet,”_ Axel said the last part mockingly, making it clear he’d been listening before she left, “then I’ll do it. Whatever he wants. I’ll be his just as much as he’ll be mine.” He began to walk, dragging Namine along with him.

The whole way to the clearing, Namine struggled and cursed and fought with him, but for all Axel noticed in his memory, she could have been an insect buzzing around him. He didn’t even really look at her; I only caught pieces of her from his peripheral. Once they were there, however, Axel’s focus was back.

“What should I do with you though, hmm? I’ve got a friend I could leave you with, but I couldn’t be certain he’d give you back. I’m not going to let you try to ruin our moment, either.” Whatever look came across the demon’s face then, it scared my sister; her eyes went wide and she tried to run. I saw Axel’s hand come up, and Namine collapsed as if she’d just run headlong into a wall. She scrambled back to her feet, hands outstretched, but Axel made a few more motions and laughed.

“Now _that’s_ perfect. You just sit tight in there. This way you can witness our special event and be there for Roxas, but you can’t get in my way.” Namine pounded on the invisible walls, feeling around for an escape, but there was obviously none to be found. The view turned away from her as Axel began to set up the space, and then I felt Axel move his hand out from under mine. 

“You could just _ask_ me instead of trying to _force_ me,” the redhead snarled, crossing arms over his chest and turning his back to me. “I only keep things from you when I think it’s _better_ for you, but there you go.” I felt like such a dick. I told him sorry, and that I needed some time to think. To try to make up for it a little, I asked him to come to bed. He grumbled, but without us talking much more, he came and stretched next to me.

I spent the next day, yesterday, just trying to think. Axel spent the day as a cat; I think he knew I needed some space. We didn’t talk much, but he was always silently by my side, making sure I knew he was there. When I went to sleep, it was with warm human arms around me. Axel’s surprisingly good at being supportive, even if I’m mad and upset and he’s a demon.

But I decided when I woke up this morning that I was going to have to talk to my sister. And Axel. I have to figure something out. I can’t believe Namine would lie to me, but I also can’t deny what I saw. And while Axel didn’t hurt her, he was threatening her and making things worse. I _hate_ being caught in the middle of this. I just want things to be easier.

Maybe I’ll ask Axel if his friends would talk to me about it. Getting perspective from someone who went through all this already might help me figure out what to do. Anyway, I’ll let you guys know how it goes.


	12. [Update 9]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
5 days ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
101 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

So I actually still haven’t talked to Namine since I last updated; she’s rejecting my calls and ignoring my texts and when I’ve dropped by Xion’s place, Xion keeps telling me she’s out. Whatever. I’ve had some crazy stuff going on, anyway.

For starters, after I made my last post, Axel and I sat down to have a talk. Well, I sat down. Axel laid down with his head in my lap, but close enough. I told him I was sorry, that I’d been a jerk, that I should have trusted him more. I explained that I was upset by him and Namine going at each other. That I would have agreed to the original deal, and that even though we’d both gotten more than we bargained for, I wasn’t _mad_ at him, I just wished that he’d put more trust in me, too. He seemed to understand. 

Then he blew all of my attempts at being rational and making amends out of the water when he admitted that he liked me more than enough to want to keep me with him for eternity, and that he was sure he would have made the offer eventually. He told me he was sorry for keeping me in the dark, but swore it was because he was trying to do the best for me, and that I was the first human he’d ever cared about enough to want to protect so he probably wasn’t the best at it.

We...might have ended up making out a little bit after that. Or a lot. Don’t judge- it was really sweet, guys. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as...cared for as I do with him. It’s a bit overwhelming. 

By the time my stomach growled for lunch and Axel made a big deal about ‘feeding his human,’ I was ready to ask him about his friends.

“So,” I began while my food spun around in the microwave and Axel’s hands found the strip of skin that my shirt revealed when I reached up for things, “your...friends, you visited? Do you think...could I talk to them?” I felt Axel huff a little against my skin as he began to nibble and kiss his way up my neck. 

“Whatever you want, Rox. But, uh...don’t be too put off if one of them tries to take a bite out of you...especially Demyx. He’s still new.” 

_”What?!”_ I gasped, twisting to see if he was fucking with me. Apparently, he wasn’t.

“Awh, don’t worry, my little human,” he cooed, using the hands on my hips to pull me tighter against him, “I’ll keep you safe from the big, scary monsters...although those two are about the least scary pair on my side of the line.” He laughed at his own words, and I groaned. 

“I still wanna talk to them,” I repeated after I’d taken my food out of the microwave and we’d sat down at the table. He shrugged.

“Wanna go tonight?” he’d offered like it was no big deal, and I eagerly accepted.

“Yeah! That’d be awesome,” I enthused, and it made Axel chuckle and ruffle my hair. 

It felt like it took forever for night to fall. We spent the time talking, and I introduced Axel to video games and Netflix while we waited. It was so funny watching his fascination with the TV and all the things you could do with it. He got an especially big kick out of how humans portrayed demons in shows. He claimed most of them were ridiculous, but insisted on watching them anyway. Finally, when midnight rolled around, he hopped up and pulled me to my feet.

“Still wanna go visit my side?” he asked, his eyes shining with some emotion he kept carefully out of my ability to sense. I nodded, definitely set on looking for advice even if they _were_ possibly gonna try to snack on me. A huge smile bloomed across Axel’s face, and he held out a hand. “Then let’s take a walk.”

He lead me to the woods again, and while we were going, I asked him why the woods. He told me that the line was thinner there because it was the same in both places. Demon’s didn’t have the same houses and buildings and streets, so it was harder to cross there. Not for a demon, he laughed, but definitely for one with a mortal in tow.

Rather than walk along the narrow strip of forest like we had previously, Axel just led me straight through. I was fascinated to watch the trees turn greyscale as we took the limited number of steps through them, and when we came out, I was shocked to see an entire misty grey world rather than the rest of my hometown.

It was incredible. The rows of houses were gone, as were the streets. Instead there was a path leading through a veritable maze of small shack-like homes. Some were grouped closely, while others stood a little apart from the others, but they all looked like pretty similar black shapes with holes that were, I’m assuming, windows and doors. I didn’t see many figures out while we were walking except a few odd small creatures that seemed interested in us and would inch closer and closer towards me until Axel would turn and snarl at them and they would flee. I kept quiet; I had a gut feeling that I shouldn’t draw attention to myself here.

We went a pretty good distance until the grouping of the buildings thinned out a little bit and most of them were located at least several feet apart or further. Axel seemed to pick one at random, although I’m sure there was some way for him to tell which was which, and led me to it. When he knocked on the door, I noticed it was covered by something that was less dense than a traditional door, but more so than a screen. Then someone answered.

The man on the other side of the door was almost as short as I am. He had blueish hair that hung in his face and obscured one of his eyes, and he looked generally bored...at least, until his gaze shifted from Axel to me. At that, he gave a small frown.

“This was not your smartest choice, Axel,” he said dryly, moving aside and gesturing they enter. The redhead waltzed right on in, leaving me to scramble after him.

“Hey, he asked! I don’t have anything to do with this aside from chaperoning,” Axel defended, heading upstairs like he owned the place. I, however, was frozen in shock.

From the outside, the building was barely taller than Axel, and compact enough that the entirety of it could probably have fit in my room back home, but the inside was a completely different reality. It looked like the grand entrance to a Gatsby-like mansion. Everything was white marble and lush grey carpeting and neutral furnishings, in the living area I could partly see and the dining room on the other side of the huge foyer and the ornate marble staircase leading to another floor. It was absolutely impossible.

“I’m sure this is a little disorienting for you,” Axel’s friend said softly from right behind me, and I jumped about a foot in the air. I whirled around, heart pounding, but he was just standing there staring at me. “It’s magic. They’re all like this, just different inside, to the specifications of each resident.”

“Yo, Demyx!” I heard Axel shout, voice muffled by distance and walls.

“I’m Zexion. You’re Roxas, I believe?” the new demon continued, and I nodded shakily. I was still just absolutely dumbfounded, but I tried to shake it off. “Come with me, I’ll take you to sit down.” I followed him into the living area, which was probably the size of my entire home, and took a seat on the luxurious couch indicated by Zexion. He took a place on a loveseat across a large coffee table, and we sat there quietly for a few moments. Until Axel swaggered back into the room with a somewhat scruffy, mulleted blonde behind him. The two were chatting casually, but when they entered, Axel grabbed the blonde around the shoulders and extended an arm towards me like I was some sort of big, revealed prize on a game show.

“That’s him!” he announced proudly, and I felt myself blush. The newest demon gave me an intensely curious look and shook off Axel’s arm to approach me.

“Hey man, how’s it going?” the taller blonde asked, offering me a hand to shake, “I’m Demyx.” I took his hand and shook it.

“Roxas,” I managed. Demyx was the most human-looking of the three; honestly, he looked like he belonged in a punk band or something. He had a long black coat like Axel’s; it was then I realized all three were wearing identical ones. Demyx laughed, distracting my from my thoughts.

“Hah! Not the newbie anymore!” Demyx exclaimed, fist pumping in the air, and it startled a laugh out of me. The tension was gone after that. Demyx and Axel both took a seat, Demyx bouncing on the loveseat next to Zexion while Axel stretched himself out over the length of the couch I was on and put his head in my lap. We all talked for a little while, although at that point it was mostly the three of them swapping stories for my benefit while I interjected occasionally. Then there was a pause in the flow of conversation, and I sent a thought to Axel.

_’Do you think I could talk to Demyx for a little?’_ I asked him tentatively, and without even responding, he made it so.

“So Zexy,” he groaned as he pushed himself upright, “hows that project you were working on last time I was here? I’m probably gonna regret this, but you wanna show me?” Zexion seemed more enthusiastic at this than he had during any part of the conversation prior; immediately he was up and already leading Axel off to another part of their home.

“I’m so glad you remembered! We’ve made significant progress, actually, despite how loathsome Vexen can be at times...” The pair of them drifted out of the room together, Axel turning to mouth ‘you’re welcome’ as they went, and then I was left alone with Demyx.


	13. [Update 10]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
5 days ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
101 comments 

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context. 

****

“Hey man, do you mind if I ask you something?” I was taken off-guard as Demyx posed the question to me before I was able to ask it of him. 

“Uh, sure, yeah. Go ahead,” I replied, thinking more about how this was the perfect opportunity for me to bring up _my_ questions rather than what the blonde demon had on his mind. Demyx quickly changed that. 

“It’s just...how close are you and Axel?” he asked, and I stared at him curiously. He was glancing back towards where Zexion and Axel had disappeared and drumming the fingers on one hand nervously against the couch cushion. 

“I mean, I definitely like him, despite the thing he’s got going on against my sister.” Demyx’s eyes snapped up to meet mine, looking at me like he was searching my expression for something. 

“Do you...have you guys figured out the thing with the witch?” I was confused. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, completely thrown off. Demyx appeared to be, as well. 

“The one he said was giving you guys a hard time? Isn’t there a mortal trying to kill him?” We stared blankly at each other, both clearly waiting for the other to understand something seemingly obvious that neither of us got. I broke first. 

“I don’t think it’s that big a deal, but yeah...my _sister._ That’s what I was just saying.” Demyx looked horrified. 

“Dude, the fuck? Are you serious?” When I nodded, he gave me a look that almost seemed like he was reassessing who I was. “Ok, either Axel’s been feeding us shitty stories, or you’re a sociopath.” I was instantly angry. 

“What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?” I glared at him, and Demyx held his hands up like he was surrendering. 

“Okay, okay, back up. One of us isn’t filled in, and we’re running out of time.” He took a breath, glancing back towards Axel and Zexion’s point of departure. “What’s been going on over there?” I bit my lip, wondering if Axel was keeping things from them on purpose, but figured that if he was ok with me to coming to talk to them, he’d probably be okay with me telling the story. 

“Short version? After Axel followed me home, my sister got upset and moved in with friends. She wants to save me from him or whatever. She buried some rocks in my yard, Axel dug them up but was really pissed. I tried to get them to agree to stop fighting, but Namine got mad and left. Axel busted her doing something weird with one of her creepy drawings and made her come watch while we made our deal. That’s when I messed everything up, and now she’s not talking to me. But she’s still my sister, and she knows it’s already done.” 

Demyx stared at me for a long moment after I stopped talking, biting his lip and appearing to be thinking about something. I guessed he’d made his decision when his mouth set into a hard line and his eyes lit up mischievously. 

“Wanna see what Axel does when he throws a tantrum? Quick, come with me.” Demyx snapped his fingers and a weird portal...circle...thing appeared next to him and he dashed through it beckoning me to follow and...I was running after him before I could give myself a chance to second-guess my decision. I trusted Demyx for some completely unknown reason, and I was curious. 

We emerged into a darkened room, so I couldn’t immediately see what was around us as the portal thing closed. I felt it the best choice to ask. 

“Where are we?” I asked, trying to will my eyes to adjust faster. 

“The last place Axel would look,” Demyx laughed, and a light clicked on to illuminate the space. “We’re at his place. Welcome to your future home...I’m sure he’ll change it up before you come here.” He muttered the last part, kicking discarded laundry into something that resembled a pile. 

I was completely entranced by Axel’s chosen style of home. I don’t know if it was something to do with the home’s makeup or whatever spell that transformed the interior, but rather than an enormous, sweeping mansion like Zexion and Demyx had chosen, this would probably have been considered a luxurious single-person apartment. Everything was visible in the one large room; there was a rumpled and unmade bed, a dark couch with a stack of books next to one end, clutter everywhere. The only door, partially open, appeared to lead to a bathroom. Before I could really begin to inspect Axel’s room, Demyx was back to business. 

“After Axel told us what happened, I’ve been trying to remember what I would have most wanted to know before I’d come over here to stay,” Demyx said, and his usual easygoing voice was serious. “Would it be to wait a few decades before hunting on the other side so you don’t accidentally eat someone you knew? Would it be the job you’ll have to do? But I ultimately decided on telling you what to expect with Axel, because I didn’t even know he had it in him to be like this.” My brain was still hung up on the first few things he’d mentioned; I wouldn’t want to accidentally do _what_? Demyx put a hand on either of my shoulders. 

“Axel is wholly and completely devoted to loving you. Things are different here. The ritual you did is a big deal. When Zexy did it to me...he’d spent a long time coming to terms with it, choosing me...he knew what he was doing. I don’t think Axel was ready to feel so...strongly, all at once. He doesn’t know how to handle himself. He might be playing it cool for you, but...I’ve never seen him like this.” 

“As for the witch,” Demyx paused, leaning back and away again, “I think he’s sugarcoating it for you, though I don’t know if it’s to keep you from worrying or to make himself seem tougher, but...your sister doesn’t sound like she’s giving up. So long as you live on your side, I’m betting on him being in danger.” It felt like the floor had dropped out from under me. There was just too much to take in all at once. I collapsed down onto the corner of the bed, the closest thing to me, and just...I dunno. 

I knew Axel had said it was like marriage, but I don’t think I _really_ understood until that moment. And for him to be in danger... 

“He said she couldn’t hurt him,” I mumbled, unable to meet Demyx’s eyes. He huffed out a laugh. 

“Zexion told me he was a god,” he giggled; apparently the memory of being tricked was a fond one. “Believe it or not, he’s trying to look strong for you, although he doesn’t really need to.” He sighed exaggeratedly, shaking his head. “He’s probably smashing stuff back home because I stole you. I hope he figured it out _after_ he left Zexion’s lab, or I’ll be getting it from both of them.” I bit my lip. 

“Should we not have...?” I let the question drag into silence, not sure of the words, but Demyx chuckled. 

“Nah, we’ve known Axel forever, we’re pretty used to his angry moments. It’s fine.” He gave me a big grin, and instantly I felt more relaxed. I don’t know if it was his vibe, or if he was using powers that I didn’t know about, but I was at ease enough in that moment to throw out my biggest question. 

“Am I doing the right thing? What should I do?” I asked, pleading with my expression for some sort of real, tangible path to follow to navigate me in the right direction. Demyx didn’t really provide me with one, just more questions. 

“Do you want to keep him safe?” The ‘yes’ was out of my mouth as soon as his words ended; I had no question about that at all. “Do you think you can return his feelings?” I had no trouble with that one, either. Even if I was still figuring my feelings out, I knew they were _there._ I mean, if I’m willing to tell all of you reading, why wouldn’t I tell him? So I nodded. “Then you might want to consider moving to this side sooner rather than later. You’ll get used to it fast...I never had any real regrets about leaving.” 

Demyx shrugged, and I had a whole new range of conflicting thoughts and feelings to deal with. What about Namine, and my mom? Friends, family, plans for life; I’d be abandoning them all. But wouldn’t the exchange be worth it? Immortality, being something _more,_ staying with Axel and all that would entail... 

“We should probably head back,” Demyx murmured, breaking the quiet that had fallen between us. I looked up and saw that his expression was sympathetic, though maybe a touch nervous. That confused me, and he let out a weak chuckle. “Zexion’s feeling really...well, it’s unusual for him. I want to see what’s wrong.” I nodded quickly, hopping up, and he already had the portal open and was heading through it. I gave Axel’s room one more cursory look, and then stepped out of it. 

And into flames. 

I bumped straight into Demyx, who had frozen a step past me, and that’s when I realized; we were completely surrounded by fire. The opening Demyx had created vanished behind us, and there was no clear escape route anywhere. I was terribly, terribly confused for one brief moment; had Demyx taken us to some other part of Hell, with the more traditional fiery backdrop? You probably already have it figured out, but my brain was slow to catch up in the moment...until Demyx leapt forward and started shouting. 

_”ZEXION,”_ he shrieked, and he was so fast that I was just left standing there as he hurtled towards the wall of flame before us. It was then that I recognized the black, burning mass at the heart of that point of light as a structure like his home had been. That the other bright points of fire looked to be about the distance away as the neighboring dwellings from theirs. That...yep. The place we had left behind just minutes prior was completely devastated by the blaze that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. 

I was sure I was about to witness Demyx barrel into the fire, burning himself to look for his partner, but... just as he hit the pyre, he threw his hands out before him and a...wave? Huge bubble? I’m not really sure, it all happened so fast, but water flew out around him, dousing the doorway right before he dashed through it. He wasn’t in there long; he was back out, smeared with ash, before I would have imagined. He looked _scared,_ and that in itself terrified me. He loped towards me, but it was like he didn’t see me; he was looking around frantically, eyes wide as he scanned the surrounding wreckage. Then he froze, and I did the same when I looked the direction he was. 

The thing advancing rapidly towards us was _terrifyingly huge._ That was the only thing I could think about in the first fraction of a second when my eyes locked into it. It had to be at least ten feet tall, with huge black wings that were flared out, only adding to its intimidating size. Well, that, and that it was entirely engulfed in flames that cast its form into a hazy, dark shape. Just like...Axel, in my living room, that first time. It clicked, a fraction of a second before his voice rang out. 

**_”Demyx,”_** he crooned in a booming sing-song voice that was somehow more than his voice. It was like, as he spoke, thousands of voices screamed the words along with him in the background. It was hollow and terrible and frightening and a gruesome chorus all at once, and I would have probably screamed except I could still recognize his rich timbre from within the rumble. So did the blonde demon beside me, who paled and briefly looked like he was thinking about running before he steeled himself and squared his shoulders at the rapidly approaching fiery mass. 

“Where’s Zexion?” he demanded, but you could just _hear_ how panicked he was. A dark laugh filled the air, and Axel was standing before him, towering over us. 

**“If you’ve so much as touched a single hair on Roxas’s head, he’ll be dust,”** was the hard answer he gave before he turned down to look at me, and I swear I have never felt smaller than I did in that moment. 

“I’m fine?” I squeaked, and it came out like a question, so I hastily tried again. “Demyx didn’t do anything at all.” 

**“Except take you from me,”** Axel growled, swinging his head back towards Demyx. **“Never do that again.”** Then he extended a hand and a section of the fire cleared to reveal Zexion, who had been trapped in a circle of flames. He looked just as unaffected as he had when we’d first met, but Demyx’s reaction to seeing him safe and unharmed made me question what his underlying feelings were. As Demyx tripped over himself to collapse against Zexion, Axel looked back down at me. **“Let me take you home.”**

I followed the giant inferno of a demon when he began to walk away, giving one last look towards the destruction we were leaving behind. The walk back was silent except for the sounds of our travel and the crackle of burning things. I assume it was to give Axel time to get a grip, because when we entered the trees, the fire went out all at once. I looked around, momentarily blinded by the loss of light, but something furry and warm stuck it’s head under my hand. I wound my fingers into now-familiar wolfy fur and let him lead me back to my neighborhood. 

He was still sulking, I assume, when we got back, and crept into my bed remaining as a canine. I just woke up and he’s snoring still, so I put this all down here for you guys. I’ve got a lot to think about, and I need to talk to my sister. I’ll update you all soon. 


	14. [Update 11]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
4 days ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
99 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

Well, I talked to Namine. It did not go as planned, to say the least.

After my last post, Axel and I spent pretty much all the rest of that day talking. Mostly talking. He sulked around for a while, and let me tell you, it’s hard not to laugh at a giant wolf moping like an oversized, scolded puppy. Eventually I couldn’t contain my humor; I think it was watching his fluffy tail actually _dragging the ground_ as I headed down for breakfast. I started giggling, which turned into real laughter at the pouty glare he threw at me.

I told him if he wasn’t gonna go first, I would. I bluffed quite a lot when I claimed that I wasn’t scared. To my credit, though, I wasn’t and still am not _scared_ of him...it was just the shock and the situation. I told him he looked pretty cool, actually...and that it was kinda sweet in a crazy way. Then I got my breakfast and Axel once again became the human form I like best.

While I ate, Axel tried to explain how _he’d_ been scared, realizing I had suddenly disappeared from range of his senses, and with such a new demon at that. He didn’t know what Demyx had done with me, and he realized how deeply the idea of loosing me affected him. He...told me that he loved me. He looked like he really meant it.

I didn’t say it back, as I’m still not exactly sure what name I’d give to my feelings, but, well...I let actions speak louder than words for a while, so I think he got the message. 

When we finally managed to pull ourselves apart, we talked about more benign subjects. His past as well as my past were both discussed at great length. Maybe later I’ll type up his story, because it was pretty crazy, but I’ve still got a lot to talk about right now, and...well, you’ll see why I don’t have the time to stop when I get there.

Let me summarize the day by saying I went to sleep feeling closer to him than I ever had before. I mainly mention this so you can read the rest knowing where we stood with each other. We had no hard feelings, the air had been cleared, and I felt pretty ready to spend eternity with the guy. Demon. Whatever.

I woke up this morning, determined to talk to my sister today. Her avoidance would end, and I would explain to her and she would accept me like she always did eventually. I knew if she understood, she wouldn’t want to spend the last of our time together fighting. She would understand. She _had_ to.

So after we spent a bit of a lazy morning together, I told Axel I planned to talk to Namine today. That it would probably be safer for everyone if he just stayed home and let me go alone. He reluctantly agreed, but warned he would be keeping a close watch over my feelings through our bond. I told him that was fine, and then I gave Namine a chance to do things the easy way.

I called her, but it went right to voicemail, as I had been prepared for. I sent a text, telling her that we _were_ going to talk today. No answer, but again, I’d been expecting that. I sighed before beginning down the ‘difficult’ route; my contingency plan was camping out in front of Xion’s place. I let Axel walk me to their street, but sent him home from there. Namine’s car was missing, but I didn’t let that dissuade me. When I knocked, I had fully been expecting Xion.

“She’s not here, Roxas,” the petite girl said as soon as she opened the door. I rolled my eyes but smiled.

“Know when she’ll be back?” I asked brightly, as if nothing was wrong. She narrowed her eyes, and her answering ‘no’ was flat and cold. My smile grew icy, but I kept it in place. “No trouble. I’ll wait.” Then I made a show of walking to the edge of her porch and taking a seat. I reclined against the rail, got comfortable, and pulled out my phone before I let myself look up and smirk at her. Xion’s eyes flashed as she glared and closed the door without another word, and I knew she was going to inform Namine. Good. That was message number three. Now all I had to do was wait.

And wait I did. Apparently, Namine thought she had more patience than I did. I messed around on my phone until my battery started to get low. Axel and I had been sharing thoughts across our bond the whole time, so I idly complained to him about it, and seconds later the big black wolf was loping across lawns towards me. When he got to my side, he pawed at my phone, and when I looked down, it was at full bars again.

“Now _that_ was a cool trick,” I laughed, then laughed more at his smug look. He stayed after that with the promise of leaving when Namine was coming back, and after a few hours of lounging around together, he got up and brought me a stick. I think that was actually what pushed the girls over the line; at one point I saw her and her phone peeking out from between blinds, capturing evidence of me playing fetch with a demon in their front yard. 

Just as the sun was beginning to hit the treeline as it sank towards the horizon, not that long after I’d caught Xion taking pictures, me and Axel both turned at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. With a growl, Axel snapped the stick in his jaws and trotted off just as my sister emerged from within the vehicle. And it was showtime.

At first she tried to breeze past me without acknowledging my presence at all, and that instantly got me irritated. Really, she was being so _childish._ I stepped between her and the door with my arms crossed.

“Get out of the way,” she commanded frostily. I glared; even upset, she shouldn’t be _this_ mad at me. I shook my head, and she scowled. “You’re not going in there.” I didn’t know why she didn’t want me to enter; I’d been there before.

“Fine,” I snapped, “we can talk out here.” She didn’t answer, but I took the opportunity her silence presented to give her my side of things. I told her how I felt, how Axel was my future, that I didn’t want to waste my time with her. I reminded her that she was my sister, that we were supposed to go through everything together. I was sincere, and _I_ thought I’d made a decent case, but her expression remained stony until I’d finally fallen silent. Then she began to laugh, but it was so _wrong_ it sent a chill down my spine. 

“I’ve already seen what you’ll become, you know,” she informed me, voice poisonous, “soon, my brother will be gone.” My blood was ice in my veins, but I tried to pretend I didn’t hear the threat in her words.

“Come on, Nami, don’t say that,” I tried, but my voice fell flat. “Besides, that’s not...nothing’s different right now. You want to waste the last of this time?” 

“I’m _not_ wasting it,” she hissed, shouldering past me to push open the door. I tried to follow her in, and she tried to block me, but she wasn’t quite quick enough to keep me from getting a glimpse into the living room. More specifically, from seeing the pages of drawings that covered almost every possible surface in the room. It was too far for me to see what they were of, but there were a _lot_ of them. I got a really sick feeling at the sight. 

I saw Xion peeking around a corner by the front window, eyes wide, and I was briefly suspicious she’d been listening to our conversation, but I quickly forgot all about her when Namine shoved me roughly back out of the doorway and slammed it closed in my face. I heard the lock click. I didn’t move. I couldn’t process what I’d seen. 

I don’t know exactly how long I stood there, just staring at that closed door, but after what felt like a very long time, the mail flap shifted and a piece of paper fell out of it. I reached forward, glancing over the words written hastily on one side.

_’Namine made me think...well, she sorta made it seem like you were possessed or something, but...you’re not._

_I think you deserve a warning.’_

I flipped the page over, and my heart stopped. As always, Namine’s drawing perfectly captured the scene of me; face smeared with blood and soot and tears and distorted by an agonized, silent scream. Just behind me, a large black canine was lying limp and bloody. I felt myself go cold.

Axel came and got me a little while after that, saying my feelings made him too edgy to wait for me. I showed him my sister’s drawing as we walked back, and he let all his fur stand on end as he snarled his distaste. He wanted to go back right then. He’s convinced we need to destroy her works, and _fast,_ before she uses them for whatever spell she has planned. I can’t help but to agree, but...I wanted to think things through. That’s why I’m in a rush, though...I wanted to see if anyone on here can see if there’s a flaw we’re overlooking, but we want to move quickly. So here’s what we’re thinking;

We’re gonna go back tonight, after the girls have gone to sleep. Then we break in, gather the drawings, and destroy them. Axel says he can become something that can hide in the shadows, so it’ll seem like it’s just me if we’re caught. Once that’s done...we’re gonna go to his side permanently. I’ll try to update before I go. That’s the plan, at least. What do you guys think? Are we forgetting anything?

Anyway, wish us luck!


	15. [Update 12]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
2 days ago•r/nosleep•  
KeyOfDestiny13•self.nosleep•  
99 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

This will probably be my last update. I definitely wanted to tell you what happened before I go, though, because let me tell you, things did _not_ go as planned. And...I want someone to know, to remember...

We went back that night well after I would have assumed would be safe; it was almost 4am when we crept through their side yard. Axel _did_ turn into some sort of shadowy thing that disappeared quickly into the surrounding darkness, and I wore all black and my black trench coat and tried to be as stealthy as I could. We had a plan.

The idea was for him to shadow his way inside, open the kitchen door for me, and then for the two of us to collect and gather all the drawings. Easy. It started out smoothly. He was in before I even realized and I heard the click of the lock sliding back. I waited a second; I’d thought he would open it, but impatiently I just did it myself, moving swiftly past him in the doorway and into the kitchen. I went straight for the darkened living room where I’d seen all the pages scattered around, so focused on my task that I didn’t realize the two things that you’re probably asking yourselves reading this until bright lights snapped on. I was shaking my head, trying to clear my vision from the blinding shock, when Namine started talking in this super creepy, detached voice.

“He must be teaching you patience; I was expecting you hours ago.” I heard her dragging something, and I was able to make out the blurry shape of her moving near me before there was the flick of a lighter. Again, movement and the flick of a lighter. I stood straighter as my vision cleared, and the very first thing I noticed even before the floodlights was the very obvious _lack_ of Axel. I could barely even feel my connection with him; when I did, though, my heart nearly stopped.

Pain. Fear. Anger. He was...trapped? My head snapped back to see him still standing by the door, hands clenched into fists and held tightly to his sides. His teeth were bared in a pained snarl, eyes wild. I couldn’t figure out what the pieces pointed to until cool fingers brushed my cheek, making me jerk and flinch away from my sister.

“It’s a demon circle. He’s bound; why don’t you make this easier on everyone and come sit down?” She gestured to the other side of the blindingly illuminated room, at which point I took in the open circle of space ringed with her drawings overlapping one another several layers deep. I curled my lip, ignoring her completely as I started back towards Axel, but a small figure was suddenly between us.

“Please, Roxas.” I remember how her blue eyes pleaded with me. “Please just do what she wants.” Xion was holding up her hands defensively, like I was about to attack her at any moment, and I remember the sinking feeling it gave me.

“What do you want me there for?” I asked, not heading into her weird witch circle but not advancing towards Xion, either. Namine shook her head with a little laugh, drifting towards a chair she had drug to face the circle just outside of the papers.

“I think I figured out how to sever the bond he created with you.” She sat in the chair, picking up her sketchbook and a pastel crayon that had been on the ground in front of the chair. “Now get in before I make you.” I almost laughed. Almost. I would have if it weren’t for Xion’s face. Her eyes were darting pointedly from me to a page near her position, alone and apart from the others on the floor between me and Axel. When I focused on it, I realized to my horror that it was a sketch of _Xion,_ strung up with puppet strings. Namine’s abilities were obviously more advanced than I’d given her credit for...and that made me even more anxious about what she was doing to Axel.

“Let him go and I’ll do whatever you want,” I insisted, turning and taking slow, deliberate steps towards her instead. Namine just smiled vindictively.

“I don’t think so. He made me watch _his_ little show; I’m just returning the favor.” She gave me a disapproving stare when I still did not move, “He’ll be fine as long as he stays _very_ still. Obviously he’s aware of this.” I didn’t like it, but it did kinda make sense as petty revenge...and right then, it seemed best to just do what she said. I could always get away from this after I’d mollified her somewhat, right? I stepped into her circle, never once turning my back on her.

“What are you doing here, Namine?” I’d asked, and boy, she told me alright. She’d been studying, finding people through word of mouth stories, putting together fragments of tales until she had an idea to undo the binding I’d agreed to. She’d also been filling up sketchbooks with visions she’d had of me and him, hundreds of potential futures and events. She told me all this while drawing on the sketchbook she’d picked up, as if what she was drawing were more important than her story itself. But she’d left off the most important part. “So what do you plan to do to break our bond?” I asked, a little curious but mostly apprehensive. She stopped her sketch to throw a pointed smile towards Axel.

“All I have to do is set fire to your memories and futures at the same time as I set fire to the demon’s circle. When he and all my magic are burned away, you’ll be free from him. I don’t _know_ that the fire won’t kill him, but if it _doesn’t,_ he certainly won’t be strong enough to try to come back for you for the next several lifetimes.”

“Are you _insane_? Namine, I want to go with-“ My words stopped abruptly when I took a step towards her, trying to run towards Axel, but I...couldn’t. Instead I hit something that _felt_ like a smooth wall of plastic despite not seeing anything there. My heart started racing as I tried to feel an edge, a way out, until...Namine held up her sketchbook to reveal me in some sort of clear egg-like shell, looking out at her. Then my heart stopped. “ _Namine!_ ” I shouted, hammering my fists against whatever it was keeping me trapped, “I don’t want to do this! I _want_ to go with him!”

“Don’t you see?” she asked calmly, getting up to retrieve one of several lit candles on the table, “that’s exactly why I have to do this! You’re not _yourself_ anymore!” She held her candle to one of the pages on the outside of the circle, and I watched as a sketch of Axel as the large cat caught fire. From the other end of the room, a sharp, heartbreaking keening sound rang out; it took me a moment to realize the noise came from Axel, who looked like he was struggling ineffectually to move while tears streamed down his face.

“What about Roxas, though? You’re basically sentencing him to death like that!” The words came, unexpectedly, from Xion. She was still in her place between Axel’s prison and my own, but she looked frantic as she yelled at my sister. “You never told me _this_ is what you wanted to do!” Namine ignored her, brushing past as she walked towards Axel.

“You can’t have him. Since you will not relinquish him willingly, I will take him back. I’d tell you not to mess with us again, but _you_ probably know better than I do what will happen to you after this.” Then she unceremoniously set fire to whatever it was creating the lines on the floor trapping Axel. The sound he was making grew louder, and as he visibly began to struggle against whatever force kept him restrained, wisps of black almost like smoke began to flare and flake away from him. 

I was dumbfounded. Terrified. Confused, hurt, _angry,_ panicking and slamming myself against my own invisible prison in an attempt to get out and get to Axel as the papers around me really started burning. I vaguely heard Xion screaming about smoke inhalation and me dying right along with him, about _them_ dying, but it was all but drowned out by the sound of Axel, the _sight_ of him...By the time the smoke started to sting my eyes, I couldn’t tell if the tears streaming down my face were from that or because of Axel. His green eyes were locked on me every second, never looking away despite what was going on. 

I started getting really woozy at that point, and it was hard to see much of anything. I heard more shouting from the girls, but this bit is all basically what I was told happened afterwards. Because apparently when Xion saw me collapse against the wall, she figured out what to do. I guess Namine’s drawing just kept her at the task of keeping _me_ from getting to Axel, not keeping _her_ from Axel. She retreated backwards until she was at the edge of his circle, which was just a matter of inches from having the spreading fire fully consume it, and began kicking and sweeping away the burning...stuff. Namine tried to stop her, but once she’d cleared away enough to free Axel, there was no turning back.

According to Axel, he’d basically just exploded into his giant fiery form before he could help himself, as that’s what he’d been thinking about doing at the time. The house was instantly destroyed before Axel came to himself enough to switch to something smaller, and then his only focus was to locate me amidst the rubble and flames to get me out of there. I came to a good distance away to the sounds of sirens and firemen shouting and a huge black wolf whimpering and licking my face frantically. It looked like he’d drug me as far as he could before exhaustion won over; once I’d opened my eyes, he flopped onto his side and closed his, panting heavily. 

I was disoriented enough that it took me a minute to remember what was going on and why I was watching the biggest bonfire I’d ever seen. I got to my feet with a weak shout and ran as best I could back towards the scene of the chaos, only to be easily caught and held back by someone when I got close.

“Were you in there?! Hey! We got another one over here!” Then there was a flurry of activity as people were rushing around me and asking me questions I had no way of answering and I just kept screaming at them that there were people inside there...it was another ten or so minutes before I was led to a body being worked over in the back of a nearby ambulance. Namine had been found with only minor injuries and was breathing, but she was non-responsive and they transported her to the nearby hospital. No one else had been found.

I denied all of their attempts at medical care, and when I saw police starting to show up, I slipped away and went back to Axel, who was still laying out on the grass. I had no hope of _carrying_ him and I was just starting to try to work out a plan when I felt him through that connection, weak but _there,_ and I was so relieved I almost cried. He staggered to his feet and the two of us limped off and headed for my place. We both practically collapsed right onto the floor in the entryway...I guess it was good the hospital notified my mom and she went straight there.

Anyway, it turned out that a blow to the head from some of the falling debris had left my sister with some severe memory loss...and apparently <>I was left as the prime suspect and witness to a destructive explosion and potential death. As soon as we heard _that,_ well...Axel and I figured there was no better time than now to get outta dodge. I’m just wrapping up a few loose ends, posting this, writing some letters...The thing that gets me most is Xion, how everyone will always blame me, _Namine_ will blame me, and I don’t even know for sure what happened to her. I guess it is my fault, in a way. But...that’s why I kinda felt like I _needed_ to make sure to post the end of this.

When Axel and I leave...there will be no one else here to remember her. That’s your job now, though, okay?

Alright, well, guess this is goodbye, unless I end up being some kinda techie demon or something. Thanks, everyone!


	16. [Update 13]

**Series** It all started with my stupid best friend, Hayner, giving my sister an ouija board for Valentine’s Day. [Update]  
Today•r/nosleep•TheWhiteWitch•  
self.nosleep•253 comments

Just joining us? Start _here_ for full context.

Hello, my name is Namine. My brother is wanted in regards to a case involving homicide and extensive damage. No one has seen or heard from him since the incident. In the search for him, this forum was uncovered, and it is obvious he was suffering from some sort of mental break at the time. If anyone here has any leads as to his possible whereabouts, please reach out and contact me or the local police department, and I will post the police contact information in the comments section below. Please, he obviously needs help. Thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> Like what you see here? I’ve got more!
> 
> Finished:  
> There’s An App For That  
> Into The Unknown  
> Discord Required  
> In progress:  
> Angel With A Shotgun  
> Got It Memorized?  
> A Pirate’s Life For Me  
> Reddit Nosleep Thread
> 
> Plus more to come! ❤️


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